A Prince in Azarath: The Psy Arc
by psychic2005
Summary: A young boy discovers that through scientific experimentations that he is now one of the most powerful psychics in the world. He joins the Teen Titans and quickly forms a bond with Raven, but not one that would be expected...
1. Chapter 1: Psy

**Chapter 1: Psy**

Who am I? Well, there's an interesting story. Well, I won't start at the very beginning, but I will start where my identity changed. You see, I'm an 18 year old named Sam. I have dark hair and I'm kind of muscularly thin, but not skinny thin. I guess I dress kind of preppy. But that's not really important. So, here we go.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"What's the matter Sam? You seem upset," my dad had asked. We were on vacation, but it didn't really feel like one.

"Nothing, I'm fine," I replied.

Of course I'm upset, I thought. I've been in a coma for the last year. Let's recap; I was kidnapped for a month and a half by Bedlam to take part in his plan to take over a country called Markovia with his evil werewolf army because he sensed that I had psychic abilities. Well during the middle of the night, his flunky, Sage, came and took me to a secret lab to train my psi abilities. It was some special program set up by Bedlam to train any person they sensed had psychic possibilities to their highest ability in a one-week, extreme training session to be used as a weapon for his sick plot to take over Markovia by making me control an army of werewolves. Well, the two other captives and I broke free, and while I was fighting a final battle with Sage, my memory was erased when our powers collided. She lost all sanity, and I went into comatose without a single memory of this event.

Well now, a year later, I'm finally out of my coma. And, as you can probably imagine, I didn't feel rested at all. I felt even more exhausted. I still didn't remember anything of what happened before my coma. I remembered before the kidnapping, and that's it. But, I felt something pricking at the back of my mind, but I couldn't exactly remember what it was. And, it was as we were getting ready to leave the hospital, I heard a voice in my head, not my head voice, but a voice of a person I didn't know. That voice kept taunting me, teasing me of the memory that I couldn't remember. It kept prying, asking if I could remember. I didn't...

Hours after we had left the hospital, I sat at home on my bed. The thought still haunted me that there was something I needed to remember but couldn't. So I concentrated. I blocked out everything and concentrated hard. Things started to come back to me. There were explosions, purple and blue glows, the sensation of flying, and things moving around this giant room without being physically touched, a battle scene with four other teenagers that had strange powers too. And then a maniacal laugh that brought it all together. All of a sudden I remembered everything. I remembered all the training, how I was stronger than any of Bedlam's scientists imagined. And how they decided I was too powerful and they needed to get rid of me after I, the other captives, Emerald and Wolfgang, and the Markovian Prince and Princess Bryon and Terra formed the Titans Europe to take down Bedlam. But his plans to get rid of us failed, and his death was brought about. Yes! I also remembered that in my attempt to attack Sage my powers backfired and erased my memory, but it didn't go deep enough. I remembered every detail.

I suddenly snapped out of this horrifying vision and realized that I wasn't an ordinary teenage guy anymore. I had powers beyond many people's imagination. I could fly, create psi shields, psi balls, create psychic pulses that would knock anything out of my path in a 200 meter area, and I could move things 100 times my size with a single thought! I could destroy the world with powers like this, but that wasn't my purpose. My purpose was to stop horrible people like Bedlam, Sage, and those scientists from doing this sort of thing to others. It was then I decided to save the world, not destroy it. I was no longer Sam, average teen. I am Psy, teen hero.

I remembered hearing from Terra about a group of teen heroes called the Teen Titans, and went to search them out, to see if they needed any help, or another member on their team. I searched high and low to find anyone who had heard of them. I finally found a store owner in a small suburb, a few miles from Gotham City, who said the Teen Titans lived in a giant tower shaped like a letter "T" on a small island a few miles from there. I obviously found it with no problem. I mean a giant letter "T" isn't very hard to locate.

Well, I reached the giant metal doors and was about to ring the bell when I noticed my reflection in the doors. I was dirty, tired, and messy, my clothes were torn and ragged and I didn't have any sort of super hero uniform to my name. I'll admit I didn't look like the kind of person to be asking to join a team of super heroes. I was just about to turn around and leave when the doors opened and a girl around 18 in a dark cloak with pallid skin and dark hair stepped out.

"So, were you gonna ring the bell, or just stand there all day?" the girl asked in a raspy sort of voice.

"I...um...well you see..." I stammered.

She raised one of her eyebrows in an inquisitive look. "Yes?" she asked.

"Well, I was going to but...wait a second," I said. "How did you know I was here?"

"I'm telepathic," she stated. "I could sense your presence."

"Oh wow!" I said. "Me too! Hi, my name is Psy, and you are?"

"Raven," she said. "You said you're telepathic, what are you doing here?"

"I'm actually psychic, but yeah, telepathy is one of my gifts," I replied. "I came to talk to the Teen Titans. I wanted to know if they needed anyone else on the team."

"Why don't you come in," Raven invited. "I'll call everyone else down and we'll talk about everything."

A few minutes later I found myself on a huge sofa waiting for Raven to get back with everyone. While I waited, I took in my surroundings. Besides the sofa, there was a gigantic window with a view of the whole city in front of the sofa, a small kitchen, and a few other chairs. It was a huge room, but it still seemed cozy.

A minute or so later, a small group of teens came in. First, there was a teenage boy with spiky, black hair, wearing a green and red uniform with a cape. He looked around 18 years old. He was closely followed by a young girl around the same age with dark red hair, and semi-orange skin tone. She was wearing strange clothes like none I'd ever seen before. Following these two were two guys who were sort of fighting over something. The first was a tall cyborg-like person who was part African American. He looked around 19. And the second was a green guy who looked around 16. Following the rest of the group was Raven.

"So, you're Psy?" the spiky haired guy asked.

"Yes, and you?" I asked back.

"I'm Robin, and this is Starfire," he indicated to the orangish girl, "Cyborg," obviously to the cyborg, "Beast Boy," pointing to the green guy, "and you've already met Raven."

"Wow, it's totally great to meet you all!" I said excitedly. "I've heard of you, but I never thought I'd actually meet you."

"Raven mentioned you want to join the Titans," Robin said. "I'm glad you do, but we need to know why you want to join the team. What are your abilities? How did you found out about us? And if you have any previous experience with your powers."

"Wow, why such in depth questions?" I asked.

"Because," Starfire replied, "we have had people join the Titans before and...," she trailed off.

"And she was only here to spy on us and find our every weakness and all our flaws, to report back to a maniac so they could try and destroy us," Cyborg finished.

"Doesn't anyone remember that in the end Terra gave her life for us?" Beast Boy yelled defensively. "And how she came back to us and helped us with everything before she had to go back to her country with her brother?" At this statement I noticed pain not only on Beast Boy's face, but on Raven's too.

_Terra and Bryon were part of the Teen Titans?_ I asked myself. _Maybe that's how they knew so much about the Titans, and how to form and lead a good team._

"Of course we do Beast Boy, but we also remember what she did before that," Robin said trying to calm down Beast Boy.

"You see Psy, the reason we ask in depth questions is because we all became emotionally attached to Terra," Raven said explaining it to me. "We trusted her and gave her everything, but she betrayed us. She did however gain our trust back when she used her powers to destroy Slade, our worst enemy who she had been working for. In return though, her victory petrified her in stone."

"I see," I replied, "So Terra was a part of this team at one point?"

"Yes she was, but her and her brother Prince Bryon were called back to their home country of Markovia to fix a problem with some maniac called Bedlam," said Robin. "Anyway, about those questions!"

So over the next hour or so, I explained who I was, where I'd come from, how I'd come across my powers, and just what my powers were. They all seemed pretty impressed with what I was telling them.

"I don't know about everyone else," Robin said, "but I'm ready to see you in action out on the obstacle course!"

"That is a glorious idea!" Starfire stated. "Cyborg and I shall go and ready the computer."

"This is gonna be great!" said Cyborg enthusiastically as he and Starfire headed outside.

"Hey! Wait up!" yelled Beast Boy. He quickly morphed into a cheetah and ran outside.

"Come on outside," Robin said. He went out. I was about to follow when Raven stopped me.

"So, this is your final test. You nervous?" she asked as if this question was a test in its own.

"Not if you're there I won't be," I said, with a wink. I grabbed her hand and ran outside laughing with her close behind, a shocked look on her face.

The obstacle course was not only challenging, but fun too. I did very well on it, and became the newest member of the Teen Titans. The first few nights at Titans Tower, I stayed in Beast Boy's room on the bottom bunk, while he took the top. But after about a week, the rest of the Titans surprised me with my own room, and my own costume, or "uniform." It was a very big room, nice and open and a nice, huge, bed. My uniform was also very cool. It was form fitting, which made it very easy to move around in.

Today, I sit in my room, thinking about everything, but especially Raven. I'm not sure why, but I feel like we have some sort of connection from the first time we met. It's odd. Not like a romantic connection...but something deeper. All of a sudden an alarm goes off.

"Titans, trouble!" Robin yells.

We all run into the briefing room and Robin fills us in on what is going on.

"Cinderblock has escaped from jail," Robin tells us.

"No problem," Cyborg shouts.

"Let's do it," says Beast Boy energetically.

"Let us go kick some butt?" Starfire asks, unsure of herself.

"...Right...," Raven says sarcastically

"All right, my first mission!" I say excitedly.

We all head outside. Robin jumps on his motorcycle and takes off. Beast Boy morphs into a pterodactyl and picks up Cyborg and flies on. And Raven, Starfire, and I take to the sky. As we all reach the place where we got the reading from, I have only one thing to ask.

"Hey guys? What in the world is a Cinderblock?" I ask.

BAM! A giant stone creature breaks through a thick, solid wall of a local bank carrying a safe.

"Never mind..." I conclude.

"Titans, GO!" Robin yells his battle cry.

We all jump into formation. Beast Boy transforms into a flying squirrel and flies onto Cinderblock's face, causing him to drop the safe he's holding. Robin throws some of his exploding discs while Cyborg blasts him with his sonic cannon. The combined explosion sends Cinderblock reeling. Raven and I simultaneously hurl cars at him with our telekinetic powers, while Starfire fires off multiple starbolts. But Cinderblock isn't going to give up without a fight. In one swipe all of us are knocked back into a wall, but I manage to shield myself at the last moment. So while the others are still recuperating, I am ready for more.

I could feel my strength growing as the battle went on, and now I am ready to give Cinderblock my all. I lift Cinderblock off the ground and fly into the sky carrying him with me. I hold him there telekinetically while throwing many psi balls at him rapidly. Then with all my might I use my mind to throw him to the ground. He hits the ground hard and sends a tremor through it, but it's over.

I slowly float back down to earth, and crumple to the ground in physical and mental exhaustion. My fellow Titans crowd around me with looks of concern mixed with fear. I give a weak smile.

"How'd I do?" I ask as I pass out.

As I slowly open my eyes, I realize that I'm back in Titans Tower, in the medical room. My fellow Titans surround me.

"Wonderful," Starfire cries. "You are awake!"

"Uh...how long have I been out?" I ask weakly.

"A couple of hours," Robin states. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a million bucks," I say with a chuckle.

"Booyah!" Cyborg cheers. "Who wants waffles?"

"I'm in," Beast Boys says.

"I wish to partake," Starfire cries. "Please, do you eat waffles with mustard?" she asks as they walk out.

Robin and Raven stay behind, probably to tell me that I'm too powerful, and I'm not able to control my powers enough, and I should go home.

"Psy, we're...we're...," Robin starts.

"We're concerned," Raven finishes.

"I know," I reply quickly. "I...I was so...so stupid to use my powers. I'm not ready. I just can't control them fully. I'm so sorry to endanger you all."

"No! That's not it at all," Robin states defensively.

"We're worried for your physical and mental health," Raven says. "We think you should not go on a mission for a while. Come to combat practice but stay relaxed."

"The stress is a lot to handle at first," Robin states.

"All right, I'll stay. If you really want me?" I look for reassurance.

"Of course," Raven says.

"Are you guys coming or not?" Cyborg yells from the kitchen. The smell of fresh waffles creeps into the room.

Late that night I call home. My mom tells me that everything's ok, but I have a feeling that something's wrong. I can tell in her voice that there's something she isn't telling me. So I tell her that I'm coming home in a few days for a visit. As I hang up, I make plans to leave early the next morning and leave a note that I'll be back in about a week or two.

The next morning, I get up to leave at around 6:00 a.m. I leave a note on the table, and as I'm about to leave, I sense that someone is near. I turn around, and Raven is standing there.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asks.

"I'm going home for a week or two, something isn't right, I can feel it," I reply. "I'll be back, I promise."

"Be careful," Raven says with care in her voice.

"I will," I say. I hug Raven and give her a kiss on the cheek. "I will be back. You be careful too, I care about you, you're like family to me."

"I care about you too," Raven says holding back some tears. "You also feel like my family. I don't want to lose you. I promise that I'll be careful."

As I fly off toward home, I know that Raven and I now share a bond, both in mind, and in heart. But I have my mind now set ahead. For who knows what lies at home. Or what kind of dangers are on the way.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome Home Part 1

**Chapter 2: Welcome Home Part I**

A white car pulls up to an abandoned house in the country. The doors open and four young teens get out. The driver is a young boy of about 16; he has dark hair, glasses, and fair skin. His friends include another boy of about 14; he's built muscularly, and has dark hair also. There are also two young girls. The first has light brown hair, glasses, and fair skin. And the other has darker skin, and very dark brown hair. The first is about 16 and the second is around 15.

"This is the place I was telling you guys about," the boy with glasses says.

"This is pretty cool," says the dark haired girl. "I've gotta hand it to you Joel, this place is neat."

"Tara's right Joel," says the muscular boy. "Where'd you find this place anyway?"

"Who cares Sam," the light haired girl comments. "This place is no big deal."

"Shut up Christine!" Sam shouts.

"Why don't you?" Christine retorts.

"Why don't you both be quiet?" Tara says.

"Yeah guys, simmer down," Joel adds.

As the four teens enter the house, they all have a feeling that there is something strange about the house. It's no ordinary house, and the teens learn this very soon.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"So, how do we wanna look around?" Joel asks. "Do we wanna stick together, or split up and call when we find something?"

"Oooh! Let's split up," Tara comments. "It's way scarier that way."

"Yeah, let's do it," Sam adds.

"All right," Christine gives in.

"Sam, you take the basement. Tara, you take the attic. Christine, you and I will look around on this floor in different rooms," Joel says.

Christine heads into one of the bedrooms, and looks at everything. She's surprised at how much was left in the house. All of a sudden, a jewelry box on a dresser catches her eye. She crosses to the box and slowly opens it. Inside is the biggest, bluest gem Christine has ever seen. As she looks at the gem, she notices that there is a slight mist surrounding it. She also notices that she can see her breath.

"Wow," Christine remarks, "is it getting cold in here, or is it just me?"

As soon as Christine says this, frost begins to seep out from the gem and cover the dresser.

"Guess it's not just me," she whispers.

She slowly and carefully reaches out to pick up the gem, and as soon as she has it in her hands, it begins to glow in a brilliant blue light. Little blue lights begin to come from the gem and flow around her body. She begins to feel the cold from the gem become one with her body. As she watches, the gem slowly becomes nothing but a useless lump of coal. Soon, the cold mist surrounds her, and she blacks out.

Meanwhile, in a room down the hall, Joel searches the room. As he's looking around the room he notices the mirror over the bureau. It's not an ordinary mirror. Its oval in shape, but in the middle, the glass is cut into a pentagon shape. And from each point of the pentagon, the glass is cut all the way to the edge of the mirror. As Joel stares into the center pentagon of the mirror, it begins to glow white. As this begins, the other portions of the mirror begin to glow. Each of the five sections glows a different color, one red, one orange, one yellow, one blue, and the last green. All of a sudden, what looks like a shadow of Joel is sucked out of him, and into the center pentagon of the mirror. A copy of this shadow is put back into Joel, and the other is split into the five colors and also put into Joel. The mirror returns to normal, Joel clutches his head in pain, and crumples to the floor.

Upstairs, Tara is searching through the many dusty boxes and crates to see if she can find anything of interest. She moves aside a stack of boxes, and finds a hidden door. She stands there for a second in awe of finding such a mysterious door, and wonders whether or not she should open it. Curiosity eventually overcomes her and she tries the door. Amazingly, it opens with ease. Inside is a small room that is only lit by a single circular window. Over by the window is a small stand with an old book laying open on it. She crosses to the stand and looks at the book.

The book is opened to the legend of the Banshee. As she reads, she learns that Banshees are capable of haunting more than ruins. They can even haunt a book. As Tara reads this, something catches the corner of her eye. It's the picture of the Banshee, it's moving! As Tara backs away, the Banshee appears out of the book. The Banshee slowly glides across the floor towards Tara and begins to speak in a wailing voice.

"I have not come to harm you," the Banshee says, "but to bestow upon you a gift."

"What do you mean? Stay away!" Tara shouts.

"I will not hurt you," the Banshee repeats. "Most should fear the Banshee, but you should not, for you have been chosen."

"Chosen?" Tara asks cautiously. "For what?"

"Give me your hands, and it will all be made known," the Banshee replies.

The Banshee reaches out and takes Tara's hands in her own. All of a sudden, there is a blinding light, and Tara is by herself, with her hands out, and eyes closed.

"Did that even happen?" Tara asks herself in a daze. "And what was she saying about a gift?"

For no reason, a box falls from a top shelf straight towards Tara. She sees the box and puts up her arms to shield herself. She closes her eyes, but there's no impact. She opens her eyes, and the box is a few feet away. She goes to pick it up, trips, and falls right through the box. Tara realizes what just happened, and lets out a scream. What she doesn't realize is that this scream knocked over many things in the room...

Down in the basement, Sam searches for anything of interest. From what he can tell, it's an average, everyday basement. There's junk here, there's junk there. Basically, there's junk everywhere. But as he's moving through the basement, something on the floor catches his eye. It's a stone tablet. Normally, he would have just passed by, but for some reason, he feels compelled to pick it up and look at it. It's somewhat square in shape, with rough edges, and made out of some sandstone sort of material. It's also heavier than it looks. From first look there's nothing on it, but as Sam turns it over, he notices some strange hieroglyphic writing. It says...

TO THE FEW

WHO CAN READ THIS WRITING

SHALL BE GIVEN THE POWERS

OF OUR MOST SACRED PATRON

TO YOU ARE GIVEN HIS

AGILITY, STRENGTH, AND ALL SEEING EYES

But as Sam continues to stare at the mysterious writing, it starts to shimmer, and then sort of melt. And as he stares longer, it melts into English! Now he is able to read the perplexing inscription.

TO THE FEW

WHO CAN READ THIS WRITING

SHALL BE GIVEN THE POWERS

OF OUR MOST SACRED PATRON

TO YOU ARE GIVEN HIS

AGILITY, STRENGTH, AND ALL SEEING EYES

Something catches the corner of Sam's eye, and startles him. He drops the tablet, and it snaps in half. As Sam looks in horror at the broken ancient tablet, something that looks like a shining golden cat leaps out from between the two pieces and at Sam. But instead of the cat hitting Sam straight on, it goes right into him! As Sam looks around, he can't find any trace of the cat, or the broken tablet. Sam starts heading towards the stairs to go back upstairs, but only one thing is on his mind.

"Why did I have to go down to the basement," he asks himself bitterly.

Around the same time that Sam is heading upstairs, Tara is heading down from the attic. The two see each other, and run to meet.

"Oh my God!" Tara says. "I just had the weirdest thing happen to me!"

"You had the weirdest thing happen? I don't think so." Sam says. "I did."

"Something weird happened to you too?" Tara asks shocked.

"I guess so," Sam answers.

"Weird. Hey, where are Joel and Christine?" Tara suddenly realizes.

"Good question," Sam says. "Let's see if we can find them."

"One thing..." Tara trails off.

"What is it?" Sam asks.

"I'm done splitting up. Let's stick together." Tara says a little worried.

"Hey, no arguments here!" Sam says.

The two travel throughout the main floor of the house, peeking into the many different rooms looking for any sign of Joel or Christine. As they're rounding a corner, they have a clear view into one of the bedrooms, and there they see...

"Joel!" Tara shouts. "What happened to him?"

"Don't ask me!" Sam retorts. "Let's just go help him!"

The two rush into the room to try and assist the crumpled figure of Joel on the floor.

"My head...," Joel moans.

"Well, at least he's not dead," Sam chuckles.

"Not funny Sam!" Tara shouts.

"Hey! I'm just trying to lighten the mood!" Sam shouts back.

"Well it's not helping!"

"Fine!"

"What happened?" Joel asks clutching his head as Tara and Sam help him to his feet.

"Why don't you tell us," Tara says.

So Joel tells them all what he can remember about his strange experience with the weird mirror. When he's finished, the others don't seem too surprised.

"You guys don't seem too shocked," Joel says.

"Well," Tara begins. "We both had weirdo things happen to us too."

"You did?"

"Yeah," Sam replies.

"Well, if the three of us had things happen to us, than we can guess that Christine probably had something happen to her too." Joel analyzes.

The three start up the search again and soon come across the form of Christine, also crumpled on the floor, with a strange sort of mist surrounding her.

"What did I tell you?" Joel asks rhetorically.

"You're right," Tara responds. "Definite weird factor here."

As they move over to Christine's lifeless body, they notice that she is still breathing. But as they move closer, and go to check her pulse they notice that Christine's body is as cold as ice.

"Guys, what's wrong with her!" Tara asks in a panicked voice.

"I don't know," Joel replies, panic sneaking into his voice as well. "Her pulse is fine; she shouldn't be having problems with circulation."

"Let's get her out of here and try to call an ambulance," Sam replies as calmly as possible.

The three youths assist each other in lifting Christine up off the floor and carry her to the car. They carefully place her in the back seat, and Tara climbs in next to her to keep an eye on things. Joel and Sam then climb into the front seats and drive off.

"Little do they know that they've fallen into my trap," said a figure standing on the top of the house. His face was hidden by a mask, half orange, half black.


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome Home Part 2

**Chapter 3: Welcome Home Part II**

"Mom, I don't get it, what happened?" I ask.

It's a few days later, and I have just gotten home from my stay with the Titans. The trip was long and tiring, but when I got home and found out what had happened, sleep was the last thing on my mind.

"Your brother, Joel, and his friends Tara, Christine, and Sam all snuck into an abandoned house," my mother replied slowly. "Joel says that from the beginning they knew there was something different about the house, and that's what made them want to explore it. But he said that strange things happened to each of them, things that can't be explained. He, Tara, and Sam were fine as soon as they got back, but Christine…" she trailed off.

"What happened to Christine?" I asked in a scared voice. "She's not dead is she?"

"No. Of course not," my mom replied. "But she did have to take a trip to the emergency room. She's back now, but the doctors couldn't figure out why she was so cold. Anyway, ever since then the four of them have been acting really strange. They can't stand being apart for too long, they feel sort of, drawn to each other. And then there's, their symptoms…" she trails off again.

"Mom, you can't keep stopping like this," I say frantically. "You have to tell me, you of all people should know that I might be able to help them!"

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"You're right." She takes a deep breath, and lets it out. "Joel has been having abrupt mood swings. One minute he's perfectly happy and fine, and the next he's in a fit of rage, closely followed by waves of sadness and uncontrolled sorrow, and then he'll bust into fear, fear of everything and everyone. And one of the weirdest things is when his moods change, so do his eyes. The color I mean. And not just slight color changes, but drastic. Like, from red to green to orange!

"And Tara, from what her mother tells me, when she's not with the rest of the group, she stays cooped up in her room. And sometimes, when her mother swears that she's up in her room, she'll go look, and Tara's nowhere to be found. Once or twice her mother has locked Tara in her room, just to keep her there, and when she comes up later, Tara's gone, and she'll walk in the front door hours later. Also, at one point her mother and she got into a bit of a fight, and when Tara yelled, everything on the wall behind her mother either broke or was flung across the room.

"Christine's room is always cold. Her mother says that she'll turn the heat on high in Christine's room, and it doesn't change the temperature. It's always freezing. And one of the weirdest things is when Christine grabs a glass of soda, or juice or something…it instantly frosts over. It's instantly cold. Her mother has also noticed a change in her eyes; they're now this icy blue color.

"And then there's Sam. Sam is even stronger than he was before. He can lift things that no one should be able to lift by themselves. And he's faster. His mother says that he can run like nothing else can. Sam chased the van down when they had left, and caught it…at twenty-four miles an hour. And I guess he is able to see better than before. He doesn't need his glasses anymore, and apparently he can see clearly in the dark. All these are very strange, and scare his parents."

I just sat there for a moment in shocked silence. I had an idea of what had happened to them, I was pretty sure they'd come in contact with some magical items, and somehow had been given strange and powerful gifts. But how to break this to my mom, let alone the four who's lives have changed forever.

"Mom…," I began. "Where are they?"

"Down at the park," she responded quickly. "They spend all their time there nowadays."

"Thanks," I kissed my mom on the cheek, and then headed out.

As I near the park, I hear something move behind me. As I go to turn around, a foot plants itself right into the small of my back. I fly forward, and land hard on the ground. I let out a moan of pain, and slowly pull myself up to find out who just kicked me. My eyes come into focus, and standing in front of me are the four I was looking for…my friends.

"That's for leaving us here to rot in this dump of a town without saying goodbye," my brother Joel says.

"Joel…," I moan weekly.

"I don't go by that name anymore," Joel cuts me off quickly. "At least not by you, you can call me Mood Swing."

I look at my other friends, and as I look at each one, they tell me their "new" names.

"I'm Ice now," Christine tells me.

"Wildcat," Sam says.

"Spectra," says Tara.

"What are you guys talking about?" I ask while I stand up. "What do you mean I left you here to rot?"

"You weren't here for us when we needed you!" Spectra yells.

"You didn't even say goodbye!" Wildcat says angrily.

"And you obviously didn't find us important enough to tell us where you were going!" Ice shouts.

"Do you know how much mom and dad have been worrying? All you said was that you had to go, to go and find the Titans," Mood Swing says. "Who are the Titans Sam? Huh?"

I stand there in amazement for a moment. Not only are my friends mad at me, but I was just attacked by my own brother! It's all starting to sink in that either they just hate me now, or these powers are getting to them…or both.

"Guys," I start, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. But –"

"No. You know what?" Mood Swing yells. "I'm done talking. Let's just get this over with. Force Four…GO!"

All of a sudden the four of them attacked. But little did they know that I had powers of my own. While I had been at home before going to the Titans, the only person I had told about my powers was my mother. And I had another advantage on the "Force Four"…I had not only had my powers longer, but I'd been training them, and not only in a training course, but on actual super villains, and psychotics like Slade.

The four launched their attacks simultaneously. I suddenly had shards of ice, plasma blasts, and hypersonic waves coming at me, as well as Wildcat zooming towards me. I waited…and at the last second…shot up into the air! All their attacks missed, and the four of them just stared in shock at the place I had been standing. Then Mood Swing looked up and saw me. Slowly they all looked up as well.

"You want to know where I've been for the last few months?" I ask. "I've been off with the Teen Titans, a group of teen superheroes, training the powers I have had for about a year."

"You have powers?" Mood Swing asks amazed.

"So that's why you had to leave without telling anyone anything," Spectra says in a voice of sudden understanding.

"Yes," I say as I slowly land on the ground. "I wasn't able to tell anyone about my powers, or that I was leaving. The only person I told about my…gifts…was mom."

They stand there in amazement for a few minutes letting it soak in. And soon the looks of hatred and anger leave their faces, and looks of embarrassment take their places.

"Sam…"Ice begins.

"My name's Psy now," I state. "I've changed my name too."

"Psy…, we're sorry," Wildcat tells me.

"I'm the most sorry," Mood Swing says. "I'm your brother; I'm supposed to trust you no matter what. And I attacked you…I'm…"

"It's okay," I say. "You guys didn't know. You know what, I think I'm gonna let the Titans know that I'm gonna stay here for a while until you get your powers under complete control, and until we can study them fully. And besides…you guys can't be superheroes until you have cool costumes."

We all laugh and head into the park to study and train their powers. I quickly pull out my communicator and call the Titans, just to let them know that I probably won't be back for a while…if ever. I say "if ever" because when I got home I realized that college started for me in two weeks, and I wouldn't be able to do both. So the first person I call…is Raven.

"Hey Raven…I…I have something to tell you," I start.

"What is it Psy?" Raven asks with concern.

"I'm…I'm not coming back. At least not for a long time..." I say.

"Why?"

"Well, it turns out that my brother and his friends now have powers, and they don't know how to control them yet. So I'm staying here to help them train. But I also don't feel very good about these powers. It doesn't feel like they got them from something good."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" I trail off.

"What?"

"I think that this has Slade written all over it. I think that he planted these magical items that my friends came in contact with in that house. And that he's going to try to use them against me, and all of us other Titans. So I'm going to study their powers as I help them train, and make sure that they can control them fully. I'm also going to have them look out for Slade. I'm going to tell them everything about him."

"Alright, but that doesn't explain why you might never come back."

"Well, college starts in two weeks. And I can't miss that."

"Oh…sure…that's fine."

"Raven. I love you, and I always will. I'm sorry that I can't be there. But I'm needed here…a lot. You could always come and help out!"

"No Psy. My place is here. I love you too, but I just can't leave. I'm sorry too, because I'm needed here as much as you're needed there."

"I understand. I could bring them there, I know they'd be safe, and I know you guys would take care of them and help them. Because with me being at college, I won't exactly be able to help them out much."

"That's a good idea. I'll let Robin and the others know what the situation is, and what you want to do, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible…ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks Raven. Bye."

"Bye Psy."

I quickly run over to join my friends, and explain the situation to them, and that they will probably be going to stay with the Titans to train while I'm off at college. They understand, and I give each of them communicators so that I can keep them filled in on what's going on. We all then split up and head to our homes to pack for the trip ahead of us. And when I reach my house, I get a call on my communicator.

"Psy, it's Robin."

"Hey Robin, did Raven give you the message?"

"Yes, and we've decided that it would be okay for your friends to stay here and train while you're at college. It really is a good idea, especially if you suspect that Slade is behind this."

"Thanks Robin. We're all packing our stuff so we would be ready to leave as soon as I got your call."

"Good, we have two rooms set up so that the girls can stay in one, and the boys in another. We will be keeping an eye out for Slade in case he shows up to stop us."

"Good idea. I will be staying with you guys for about a week and a half. I want to be there with them for a while so that they can get to know you and have someone there that they already know."

"Alright. Well, we'll see you all in a few days. Robin…out."

I quickly call my friends on their communicators and let them know what the plan is.

"So, we're leaving tomorrow?" Ice asks.

"No, he said we're leaving tonight," Spectra comments.

"Tonight! Why tonight, I haven't even told my parents that I'm leaving!" Wildcat interjects suddenly.

"Well you might want to tell them you dummy," Mood Swing says with a laugh.

"Guys…" I say. The chatter continues.

"Guys…?" More talking.

"GUYS!" I shout, and it suddenly becomes quiet. "We have a lot of work to get done before we leave tonight. Yes tonight Ice. Wildcat…you have to let your parents know…now. Everyone else, get the rest of your stuff packed, and come to my house. Over and out."

Soon everyone is back at my house. I've explained to my own parents what is going on, to a full extent. And we pack our stuff into the T-Car that I borrowed from Cyborg, and get ready to leave.

"Everyone ready?" I ask, and get yes's from everyone. "Well then…Titans North…GO!"


	4. Chapter 4: Freshman Seminar

**Chapter 4: Freshman Seminar**

Wow, two weeks training with my little brother and his team went fast. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the Titans and the new Titans North before I had to go off to college. But now I'm on the road to a new chapter in my life…the world of college, which means that for the time being, I have to hang up my costume and just be an average college freshman. It's a good thing that none of the bad guys knew me before I became a Titan; otherwise they would track me down here at college.

"Hi I'm Psy- I mean Sam," I say.

"Casi," says a girl about my height, 5' 7", with brown hair highlighted blonde down to her shoulders. She has a great smile, very friendly, but kinda nervous and shy at the same time.

"I'm Zach," says a boy about 5' 5" tall with red hair. He has a devil-may-care kind of smile that shows that he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, but I can tell that behind this smile is someone who wants very much to have some good, close friends.

"And I'm Tedra," says another girl, pronouncing her name Tee-dra, not Ted-ra. She's about 5' 6" tall with short blonde hair down to the bottom of her face. She has a very warm smile that could make the sun come up. You can see in her eyes that she is a very loving person who is easy for anyone to get along with.

"So, I can already tell that College Math is gonna be boring," I say, trying to keep conversation going. "Do any of you guys have that class?"

"Nope," Zach says.

"Not me," Tedra also says.

"I do actually," says Casi. "And I agree…math bites." She makes a puking motion as we all laugh. "So, what's a fun fact about all of you? Like…what's something about you that you think is interesting?" She asks also trying to keep up conversation.

All of a sudden everyone gets quiet. We all look at each other in a wary sort of way. There's no way I'm gonna tell them _that_ special thing about me, I think to myself. And from the looks of it…that's exactly what every one of them is thinking too…interesting. Now, I could read their minds and just find out for myself exactly what they're hiding, but, would I want them to do that to me if they were psychic? And I'm supposed to be a superhero, and I don't think reading people's minds to find out their secrets when they're not villains would be a good thing. So the silence continues as we all try to think of things we find interesting about ourselves that we _are_ willing to share.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"Umm…," I start. "My eyes kinda change colors with my mood. Not drastic changes, but slight color change."

"Two of my teeth look like vampire teeth," Zach states. "Wanna see?" he asks as he proceeds to show us his canines which are in fact very pointy.

"Oh! I can burp my ABC's!" Casi says excitedly. "Wanna hear?"

"Let's not and say we did," Zach replies as we all laugh, including Casi.

"I've been to Vegas!" Tedra says enthusiastically. We all stare at her with a puzzled look because that wasn't exactly the answer we were looking for. "What? That's interesting!" We all laugh again.

I wonder why it took so long for them to answer, we all think to ourselves.

"Well, we haven't seen Psy in a while," Jinx says to Mammoth and Gizmo. "Wonder where he went."

"Who cares? That pit-sniffer probably got scared and ran off," Gizmo says.

"Yeah," Mammoth replies. "Besides, if it doesn't have to do with food I don't care."

"You two are pathetic! Psy is one of the most powerful psychics on the planet. We have to get rid of him, and what better time then when he's away from the rest of those Titans?" she says.

"She does have a point," Gizmo says to Mammoth.

"Fine, we'll track him down," Mammoth says in reply.

"I'll run a scan of any recent, strong, psychic energy signs," Jinx states.

"And I'll run a background check on who he was before he became Psy so that we can find him even if he isn't going by that name right now," Gizmo replies.

They both look at Mammoth as if silently asking what he's going to do to help out.

"Ummm," he says while scratching his head. "I'll pack or something."

Gizmo and Jinx look at each other and let out a disappointed and frustrated sigh.

A few hours later the three re-assemble in the meeting room to share what they've found.

"There are small psychic readings all over the country," Jinx starts. "But there are a few in, get this, North Dakota, with Psy's same energy signature."

"And I found out that Psy, or should I say, Sam, is an eighteen-year-old who was born in California, he has a mother, father, and younger brother that now live in South Dakota while Sam goes to college in North Dakota."

Once again Gizmo and Jinx look to Mammoth to see if he had done _anything_ useful.

"Ummm," he starts again. "I finished all the left-overs in the fridge, packed the Hive Flyer, found satellite images of the college Sam's at, and set the Hive Flyer's coordinates to that college."

Jinx and Gizmo share astonished looks while they gape at Mammoth.

"Maybe you're not so useless after all," Jinx says proudly. "All right, let's move."

"Ugh…I hate math," I say to Casi. The two of us have agreed to do our best to help each other with our math homework. The only problem with this is neither of us is any good at math unless it's geometry.

"Tell me about it," Casi replies.

"I don't have to take math," Zach says with a laugh.

"Oh you're hilarious Chuckles," I say sarcastically. "Rub it in again and you won't be the one laughing." With this comment Casi and Tedra both laugh.

"Well Tedra and I just want you guys to hurry up so that we can all go do something," Zach replies.

"Well you know what?" I ask rhetorically. "I've had it up to here with math." I say while I put my hand to the level of my chin to show where 'up to here' is. "I'm gonna call it a night with math, and take this back to my room. You guys wait here, I'll be right back."

"Good idea," Casi comments as she slams her math book. "I'm sick of math for the night too; I'll be right back too."

As I head back to the dorm, I can't shake the feeling that I'm being followed. I spin around, but there is no one there, but when I turn back the way I was heading, I see three figures in front of me, hidden in the shadows. One of the shadows belongs to a small child, another to a girl, and the third to a huge guy.

"Oh, hello Psy," the girl says.

"How long did you think you could hide you snot-muncher?" the small child asks.

"Who are you!" I ask in alarm. The three forms move out of the shadows. "Jinx! Gizmo! Mammoth! What are you three doing here?"

"We're here for you," Jinx replies. "We wondered what happened to you, so we figured out who you are and thought we'd take you out while you were away from the Titans."

"Good luck with that," I retort as I pull out my communicator. "I still have my communicator, and guess what? The Titans are on speed dial."

But with one swift movement Jinx curses the communicator in my hand, and it shatters into a million pieces. My eyes fill with shock and I look at my attackers.

"And we came prepared for your special abilities," Jinx says. "Attack pattern…DELTA!"

In an instant the three attack, but I'm just as fast. In the blink of an eye my clothes become my uniform and I soar into the air. But they are prepared for that, and Jinx curses a tree branch behind me to fall on top of me. As I'm slammed to the ground Mammoth picks up the tree branch and smacks me across the lawn. Meanwhile Gizmo fires off multiple missiles. I look up and see the missiles about to impact and finish me off, but all of a sudden a black hole forms in front of me and swallows them up then disappears. Suddenly a small twister forms around the three Hive members and they spin around in the vortex while discs of pure light are hurled at them!

I spin around to see who my saviors are and they soon appear. Another black hole opens and a teenage boy with red hair and a long trench coat steps out. A blast of wind comes out of nowhere and a teenage girl with brown hair that has blonde highlights in a dress with many strips of cloth on it blowing in the breeze appears. And then a brilliant ray of light shines down on the grass and another girl floats down, she has short blonde hair and wears baggy silver pants and a silver vest over a long-sleeve yellow shirt.

"Zach, Tedra, Casi!" I ask in astonishment.

"Not now," Zach says. "We have business to finish," he says while pointing to the former Hive students.

"Right," I agree. "Let's do it!"

But as we get ready to stage another attack the three quickly get up and run off toward their ship.

"We would have won if we had known about your nose-picking friends!" Gizmo shouts.

"Good thing you have people watching your back," Jinx says. "Because this won't be the last you see of us."

The three of them jump into the Hive Flyer and soar off into the distance.

I turn to my three friends with an embarrassed smile on my face.

"Thanks for saving me," I say. "I thought I was a goner."

"No problem," Tedra replies. "What are friends for? Especially if those friends have super powers."

"Well I guess we know what took us all so long to answer when Casi asked us what was interesting about each of us," Zach says.

Casi laughs, "You should have seen the three of us in the lounge when we heard the explosions and saw the fight going on out here! I was like 'I need to take my books to my room!' and Tedra was like 'And I have to go to the bathroom!' and Zach was like 'And I just have to go!'

We all laugh for a while about that.

"So," I begin. "Do you guys have superhero names? And what exactly are your powers? By the way, I'm Psy, former Teen Titan and one of the most powerful psychics on the planet. And I'm trying to be modest when I say that." They laugh.

"I'm Eclipse," Zach replies. "And I have powers over dark energy and can create dark matter in any form. I can also create black holes."

"I'm Gale," Casi says. "I have power over the wind and air. I use them to fly, create cyclones and windstorms, and also to create blades of air."

"And I'm Solarflare," Tedra also says. "My powers are a lot like Eclipse's, only over light energy instead of dark energy. I use discs of light to attack though instead of black holes."

A few days later I meet up with the others like we planned. Only I'm bringing a surprise that I didn't mention when I told them to meet me in the lounge.

"So, what was so urgent Psy?" Gale asks.

"Well," I start. "I had a talk with Robin."

"Really? Robin! Like…the real Robin?" Eclipse asks in amazement.

"No, the bird robin," I reply sarcastically. "Of course the real Robin."

"What did you talk to him about?" Solarflare also asks.

"I talked to him about you three, and about giving you these," I state as I pull out three brand new communicators. "We both talked it over, and agreed that we want you three to join the Titans!"

"Us?" Eclipse says.

"Titans?" Solarflare shouts.

"Really?" Gale asks in shock.

"Yup, really," I say. "I'm just trying to figure out what to call ourselves. I mean the Titans North is my brother's team."

"We could split the Titans North into two sectors," Gale suggests.

"Yeah! Like Titans North Sector N could be us because we're in North Dakota," Solarflare says. "And the Titans North Sector S could be your brother's team because they're in South Dakota."

"That's a great idea," I say.

All of a sudden our communicators simultaneously go off.

"Trouble," Eclipse says.

"Who is it?" Solarflare asks.

"Doctor Light," I say.

"Who?" Gale asks.

"Some dude in his pajamas with a giant light bulb on the chest," I reply dryly.

"You're kidding right?" Solarflare inquires.

"I wish I was," I say as they stare at me in shock.

"Well he'll have a…dim…future when we get done with him," Eclipse says with a sad pun.

"How 'bout…no," I reply unenthusiastically. "You know, I have a feeling that you guys will be perfect at this superhero thing."

"Well let's take him down then," Gale exclaims.

"That's the spirit," I say. "Well, our adventures start here. Titans GO!"

As soon as I say this, our clothes transform into our uniforms and we run off towards downtown to take on Doctor Light.


	5. Chapter 5: One for All

**Chapter 5: One For All**

In a giant tower, in a small city outside Gotham called Jump City, an alarm goes off.

"Titans, there's trouble in the city," Robin says over the intercom.

Quickly nine teenagers group together in the briefing room. Four girls and five guys.

"Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload are attacking the city," Robin tells them. "We need to split up into three teams of three to take them on. Raven, Spectra, and Ice you go take on Plasmus. Wildcat, Beast Boy, and Cyborg you go get Overload. Starfire, Mood Swing...we'll go after Cinderblock. Titans...GO!"

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

Starfire, Robin, and Mood Swing square off against Cinderblock, in a triangular formation. Robin in front, with Starfire and Mood Swing on his left and right behind him.

"Cinderblock, you picked a bad day to mess with the Titans," Robin calls. "GO!"

Starfire soars up and starts hurling starbolts off, while the stripes on Mood Swing's costume glow red showing us his mood has changed from average to anger. His fists glow red with plasma energy, and he starts firing plasma bursts towards the rampaging Cinderblock. Robin moves in for a frontal assault, using his bo-staff to launch himself and plant a drop-kick in Cinderblock's face sending him reeling.

At an industrial plant across town Raven, Ice, and Spectra are in a heated battle against the amorphous blob known as Plasmus.

"Ice, freeze him!" Raven yells to her teammate. "Spectra, once he's frozen use one of your hypersonic screams. It should smash him to pieces."

Ice quickly calls on her powers over ice, and creates a freezing wind that blows right at Plasmus causing him to freeze instantly. Without skipping a beat Spectra unleashes a hypersonic scream that could level an entire city block upon Plasmus, in turn shattering him into millions of pieces. Raven prepares herself to use her soul-self to cause Plasmus to explode and revert to his human form as soon as he recovers from the last attack.

The power plant on the east side of Jump City is where the battle between Overload, Wildcat, Cyborg, and Beast Boy rages on.

"Okay guys, here's the game plan," Cyborg says taking charge. "Wildcat, I want you to run circles around him to confuse him while BB gives me a lift to blast him from above. Ready? Let's do it!"

Wildcat takes off as fast as he can and starts running frantic circles around Overload. Overload's attention is easily drawn to the speeding Wildcat around his feet. While his attention is drawn, Beast Boy morphs into a pterodactyl and picks Cyborg up by the shoulders directly above Overload. Cyborg aims and takes a massive shot strait down beneath him sending Overload stumbling backwards, causing him to trip over Wildcat and crash into the wall behind him.

"Why won't he give up?" Ice asks Spectra and Raven rhetorically.

"I'm not sure," Raven states. "But something is definetly odd about this."

Plasmus all of a sudden shoots a blast of goo right at Raven. Catching her off guard, she's thrown to the ground. Plasmus oozes forward quickly and knocks out Spectra and Ice. He then carries them off before Raven can recuperate.

"He is most persistent," Starfire says.

"Yeah, but what's he after? There's nothing here thats of any use," Mood Swing says.

"I don't know, but we have to keep fighting," Robin yells from across the battlefield.

A quick swing of an iron bar from Cinderblock sends the flying Starfire through a wall into the room next door. And on the back-swing he catches Robin which throws him through the opposite wall. He then rushes toward Mood Swing. But instead of attacking, Cinderblock grabs him and continues too run off.

"Umm...I know we're at a power plant, and that's what Overload needs to survive," Beast Boy says. "But am I the only one that noticed that he's not really trying to get to the electricity?"

"You're right B," Cyborg comments. "But if he isn't after the power...what is he after?"

A blast of electricity catches Cyborg in his chest and overloads his battery causing all his circuits to blow. Another blast aimed at Beast Boy almost catches him, but the agile changeling quickly transforms into a humming bird and flies around the plant. Wildcat then runs forward to punch Overload with his immense strength. Overload intercepts Wildcat's punch and uses him as a human weapon to attack Beast Boy who is then thrown across the room and lands on the floor unconscious. Overload then throws Wildcat over his shoulder and walks away from the power plant.

"Robin, you're not making sense! What happened?" I ask Robin frantically as he tries to explain to me what happened.

"We had to split up into groups to protect the city from Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus...but...I can't believe I was so stupid to let this happen," Robin says in his usual attitude.

"Robin you aren't helping," I say. "All you're doing is making things more confusing. What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"Psy, you're brother and his team were captured in our attempts to take on Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload," Raven says finally answering my frantic questions.

All of a sudden everything goes silent as everyone awaits to see my reaction to the horrible news of my brother's kidnapping.

"Who?" I ask only this question. "Who's to blame for this?"

"I'm afraid it's Slade, man," Cyborg says trying to stay calm.

"I'm gonna kill him...," I say in a strangely calm voice. "I am going to kill him when I get my hands on him."

"Psy," Raven starts. "You have to control your emotions. It isn't healthy to let rage control you. I should know. Maybe you should come here for a while. Your team will be fine until you get back."

"You're probably right," I sigh. "I'll be there in a day or two."

So once again I leave for Jump City. I leave Gale in charge of the team while I'm away, I know she'll handle the team well. I pack the few items I'll need on this short trip in a backpack, don my uniform, and soar off towards Titans Tower. Once I arrive I'm greeted cheerfully by Beast Boy and Starfire, but I know that they feel sympathy towards me. As I head into the living room, closely followed by BB and Star, I meet up with Robin and Cyborg.

"Psy, I'm so sorry I let this happen," Robin says once again putting himself down. "It's all my fault I -"

"Robin," I reply. "It's not your fault. No one could've known that Slade was after my brother and his team. No one."

"But you knew," Starfire says. "You predicted months ago that you suspected Slade to be behind this. This was the reason you sent Mood Swing and his team to us."

"Yeah man," Cyborg adds. "You had a feeling from the start that things weren't right. You knew something was weird about how they all got their powers."

"Yeah, we blew it," Beast Boy joins in. "You trusted us with your brother and your friends...and we let you down."

"Would you all just stop it?" Raven says finally entering the room. "He already feels bad, you don't have to make him feel worse with this guilt trip. Psy, why don't you come to my room. We'll meditate, and I'll teach you how to better control your emotions."

"Thanks Rae," I say. "That sounds good. And guys? Don't worry. I don't blame you for what happened. Even though I had a feeling things might go wrong...you couldn't have known what was gonna happen."

"We'll find them Psy...I promise," Robin says.

Hours later Raven and I float in the middle of her room. We spent a few hours learning how to control emotions, and how to find our center and meditate, and these last few hours meditating and putting it to practice.

"Raven?"

"Yes."

"You know those words you always say?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"What do they mean? Why are they so powerful?"

"Well, as you know Azarath is where I'm from. I draw power from my home to show knowledge. Azarath is a place full of monks who dedicate their lives to studying books and art. Metrion is the middle word in the spell, and it's the core to my power. It basically means power. And Zinthos embodies the courage I have within. It's what gives my power the dark appearance. Courage isn't clear, and opaque. It's dark, solid, and thick."

"So basically what you're saying is Knowledge, Power, Courage?"

"Yes. When I say that spell, I draw on all my knowledge, power and courage."

"That's amazing. Would it work for me?"

"This spell only works if you are an heir to the thrown of Azarath."

"You're a princess of Azarath?"

"Yes. There is only one known heir in Azarath, and that's me. There is a legend though that there was a prince, but he was taken right after birth to protect him."

"Who was he?"

"No one knows...and it is just a legend."

"I guess."

"So let's get back to meditating."

I give Raven a look of confusion, and understanding at the same time. Even though I feel like I know more about Raven than I did, I still feel like there is so much more.

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos_," we both chant. Only this isn't to use power, just to relax ourselves and focus.

"We found Slade," Robin says.

"Where? Where is he?" I ask.

"He's downtown."

"How do you know?"

"Because he sent us this," Robin says as he presses the play button on the remote. The screen lights up and starts to play a video.

"_Greetings Titans_," drones the monotonous voice of Slade. "_I believe I have something you're all looking for...especially you...Psy_." The camera zooms out to reveal Mood Swing, Spectra, Ice, and Wildcat chained up against the back wall, unconscious, and gagged. "_If you want them, come find me. I'm at 723 Rosegaard Place._" As we get ready to leave, the pre-recorded voice of Slade says one more thing, as if he was anticipating our every move. "_And Psy? Come alone if you want to see your brother and your friends alive_..." the transmission ends. I look at the others. They all have concerned looks on their faces.

I blast down the door on the abandoned warehouse. 723 Rosegaard Place. From the looks of it, it used to be some kind of costume shop at one time. It's full of all sorts of old masks.

"Just like Slade," I say to myself. "A creepy mask shop, for that creepy, two-faced maniac."

"Thank you for the compliment Psy," Slade's says as he makes his appearance out of the shadows. "But flattery isn't going to get your brother back."

"So what's your proposal Slade?" I ask in a menacing sort of way, preparing for battle. "Are you gonna give me my brother and my friends the easy way? Or am I gonna have to take them from you?"

"Not so fast Psy," Slade says calmly. "We can act like civilized people. I'm willing to make a trade. A sort of, one for all, all for one, deal."

"What is up with you? Why are you after my brother and my friends? Why did you give them those powers?"

"Don't you see Psy? It's not about _them_. It never has been. It's been about you."

"What?"

"I've been planning for months about how to get to you. I gave your friends these powers, kidnapped them, and everything so that I could get to you. So...what do you think? What's more important? Your life? Or your brother's?"

I stand there in complete shock for minutes...hours...I'm not sure. "You can have me," I say as I look at the floor with my fists clenched. "Just let them go."

"That's my good apprentice." Slade pulls out a communicator. "Release the prisoners, we don't need them anymore."

Mood Swing, Ice, Wildcat, and Spectra all walk by in a daze. Mood Swing looks at me concerned.

"Psy...what -" he starts.

"Quiet child or you'll be back in chains," Slade mocks. "Your generous brother has given up his freedom, for all of yours."

"Psy you didn't?" Spectra screams.

"I had no choice," I say as I look away with slight tears in my eyes. "Now go. You're free now. GO!"

Mood Swing, my brother, runs over and hugs me. "Thanks Psy. We can never thank you enough."

I hug him back and we cry together. "Just go Joel. Go home. Slade won't bother you guys anymore. Take Tara, Christine, and Sam home. Live a normal life. I don't want you to be superheroes anymore. It's too dangerous. Alright?"

"But Sam..."

"No Joel! Promise me you'll do it."

"I..."

"Promise me!"

Joel, also known as Mood Swing, looks to the ground. "I promise." We hug one more time and Slade throws them out the front door.

Weeks later, I've been put through strenuous training to become the perfect apprentice for Slade. I've done his dirty work only because I have to protect my brother, my friends, and my family. But enough is enough. I can't listen to this mad man anymore. I wont put up with this anymore. No more.

"Apprentice come."

"Yes?"

"Yes, what?"

"...Yes...master," I mumble this last word.

"That's better. Now, I have a job for you. I'm tired of just sending you to fight the Titans. I want it over with. I want you to use everything you've got...and finally bring an end to the Teen Titans."

"You know what Slade? You can take that job...and shove it up your-"

"Insolent child! I'm sick of your behavior, and your attitude and your lip!"

He throws a punch and it makes contact right into my face. I reel backwards.

"You're gonna wish you didn't do tha-" another punch lands right in my stomach knocking the wind out of me.

"I'm going to wish I didn't do what?"

I let out a frustrated growl and use my psychic powers to send a psi wave throwing him backwards into the wall. I fly up and pelt him furiously with psi balls. I soar over to him and power up my hands with psi energy and punch him continuously. I lift him up telekinetically and throw him around like a rag doll. He lands on the floor in front of me with a sickening thud. Thinking its over I start to walk away. But out of nowhere he jumps up and grabs me, and holds me by the scruff of my shirt.

"No one treats me like that. I'm done with you. This is the end for you right now. Any last words child?"

"Actually...I have three," I say in anger. "_AZARATH...METRION...ZINTHOS_!"

All of a sudden I feel an energy inside of me unleashed like never before. The dark form of a giant, black tiger soars out of me and straight through Slade. His eyes go wide and he screams. This tiger, my soul self, comes back and returns inside me. Slade crumples to the ground and continues to scream and convulse on the floor.

"MAKE IT STOP! I CAN'T TAKE THIS AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!"

I call the Titans on the communicator and Slade is taken to the mental hospital and unmasked. Who is he? A person. A normal person who was so twisted that he resorted to evil like this.

A few days later I float with Raven in her room. My uniform has changed, and is a lot more like a male version of Raven's, without the cloak.

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos_," Raven and I meditate in the middle of her room.

"Raven?"

"Yes Psy?"

"I thought you said that this spell would only work for a true heir of Azarath."

"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it will work for anyone when they truly need it. When the knowledge, courage, and power inside that person is joined together in a time of need."

"Yeah...maybe that's it."

"Yeah...," But inside, Raven knows this isn't the truth. Inside the truth has been revealed to her. But he can't know. Not yet. He's not ready. "We should keep going. It'll help you get your strength back, and keep you calm. Slade won't bother us again."

"I know...you're right," I sigh.

"Find your center...and...,"

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos_..."


	6. Chapter 6: The Second Prophecy

**Chapter 6: The Second Prophecy**

"His daughter was born to be his portal, his son shall be his rebirth…" chant the voices of many monks.

Flashback 1:

"Please Raven. Today is the day? It is…" Starfire says.

"The end of the world." Raven replies with tears in her eyes.

"He shall reclaim, he shall renew…" the voices continue.

Flashback 2:

"What hope can a mere child have of defeating her all-powerful father!" Trigon yells.

"You may have created me…" young Raven says.

She then shines with a bright white light and transforms into her older self. Her hair is longer, and she is clothed in pure white.

"But you were NEVER my father!" Raven yells.

"His reign over this earth."

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"I'm calling the Titans North," Robin says. "They need to know that Psy isn't safe."

"But Robin," Starfire replies. "How do we know that this is the destiny they both must face?"

"Star, we ran all the tests." Cyborg states. "We cross-referenced everything. We watched the footage of the last battle with Trigon. We may not like these results…but they're real."

"But, these are our friends! How can they be destined to do such horrible things?" Starfire retorts.

"Star," Beast Boy says calmly. "These are magical things that weren't meant to understand. Even Raven doesn't know about this. At least…we don't think she does."

Raven levitates in the middle of her room meditating in the complete silence of her mind. A million miles away from the meeting going on in the Titan's living room.

"If I defeated him, why doesn't it feel like he's really gone?" Raven asks herself. "If he was completely destroyed, why can I still sense that there is some part of him that still exists? Some little tiny piece of him, just like there was a piece of me after I became the portal."

I head back to my dorm room. I just got done with classes for the day. I go into my room, look around, and let out a sigh.

"Even with other friends here that have powers, the four of us forming the Titans North Sector N, and we've stopped all the crime in the city…why does it still feel like something is horribly wrong?" I ask myself. "Why does it still feel like there's something out there that's bigger than anything I've ever faced before? And why does it still feel like something is missing?"

I take a moment to stand there in silence, then say quietly, "…Raven."

"Robin calling the Titans North…Robin calling the Titans North," Robin says to the static on the gigantic television screen. "Robin calling the Ti – "

"We heard you the first six times you said it," says Mood Swing as he appears on the screen.

"Well then why didn't you answer?" Robin asks.

"Hey, Psy teleports…not us," Spectra says as she pushes her way onto the screen. "Besides, you should be more specific as to which sector of the Titans North you want now. Nowadays there's Sector S, that's us, and Sector N, that's Psy's group."

"Hey, didn't you guys stop being superheroes? I thought Psy asked you guys to stop," Robin asks.

"Psy got a hold of us a few weeks ago when he got back to college, and said that it was alright, but to be careful," Ice says appearing on screen.

"Well, if Psy isn't with you, then how can I reach him?"

"Did you not hear a word I just said?" Spectra asks indignantly. "Call for the Titans North…SECTOR N." She says this last part very slowly so Robin will not only catch it, but feel very stupid at the same time.

"Spectra! Shut it!" Mood Swing says in an annoyed tone. "Sorry bout that Robin. Just call for Sector N, and you'll get one of their teammates. Most likely you'll either get Gale, or Psy himself."

"Thanks Mood Swing," Robin says with gratitude.

"Why do you need to contact the Titans North so bad anyway?" Mood Swing asks inquisitively.

"Psy's in danger…let's leave it at that," Robin says flatly.

"I don't think so." Mood Swing retorts. "Psy is MY brother, what kind of danger are we talking about? Please Robin…he's my brother, I need to know."

"There was…a prophecy…" Robin starts.

Raven lies in her room, sprawled on the floor, barely breathing, unconscious.

"No! You can't be here! I destroyed you!" Raven screams at a form completely covered in shadow.

"You may have destroyed my body," the shadow says. "But you couldn't destroy my spirit. The prophecy will be fulfilled."

"The prophecy was already fulfilled! It can't happen again…can it?"

"That was only the first part of the prophecy. This second part is stronger, deeper, and will be carried out. And there's nothing you can do to stop it, for this time it requires much more than just you. This time it requires…"

"Psy, you need to get out of there, it's not safe," Robin says over the communicator's small screen.

"Robin…calm down. What's not safe?" I ask.

"You aren't. You're in great danger. We need to get you to a safe place. Someplace where they can't get to you."

"What kind of danger? What safe place? Who is 'they'?"

"Psy, we figured out that there is another part of the prophecy. Do you remember how we told you about the prophecy Raven fulfilled? The one where she was destined to become the portal for Trigon to rule the Earth?"

"Yes. I remember. But what does that have to do with me? Why does that make me not safe? Wait…that was a long time ago. We don't have to worry about that anymore. Do we?"

"That's just it Psy. That was only part one of the prophecy. Part two needs someone else. It needs Trigon's other child."

"There's another child of Trigon?"

"Trigon didn't realize it until recently, but Arella didn't only have Raven. She had twins. Her second child was hidden away from Trigon all this time. No one knew who or what he was."

"HE?"

"Yes…he."

"But why does that put me in danger? I'm confused. We need to find that other child, and stop this prophecy from coming true. What exactly is the second prophecy?"

Suddenly Raven's face also appears on the screen.

"The second prophecy states that Trigon's other child, my brother, is to bring him back to life. Then I shall once again become the portal for Trigon to come back to reclaim this world." Raven says grimly.

"Who is the other child? We have to find him!" I say.

"There's no time." Robin says. "We need to get you and Raven to a safe place."

"So I'm not really in danger! I'm going to protect Raven?"

"We'll send you the coordinates to the rendezvous point. Meet us there and we'll get you to the safe haven. Robin…out."

"Wait but…" I start to say. I stand there staring at the blank screen for a while. "I have a bad feeling about this."

I call the rest of the Titans North together. My brother and his team fly up too, for the meeting. I quickly brief them on what's going on.

"Titans," I begin. "I'm not quite sure what's wrong. But what I do know, is that they need me for some mission to protect Raven from her father. I guess the prophecy she fulfilled has a second part, where it could happen again. Only this time there's another element."

"And that is?" Wildcat asks.

"Raven has...a brother I guess," I reply.

"Robin told us about this," Mood Swing says. "But Wildcat wasn't there when we were informed."

For some reason, it seemed like Mood Swing was hiding something. Something important that I should know.

"Mood Swing? What are you not telling me? Do you guys know something I dont?" I ask.

"No," Spectra quickly says.

"Psy, it's nothing. Don't worry," Mood Swing replies.

Everyone is looking at the floor, trying not to make eye contact with me. I know something's up.

"Alright guys, what's going on?" I ask.

"Robin will brief you with what's up Psy," Gale says.

"But guys..."

"Let it drop Psy," Eclipse says with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah Psy, everything will be fine. Just go help the Titans. We'll be fine," Spectra says.

"Besides," Solarflare says enthusiastically. "With the Titans North all combined into one team for a while...no one will mess with us."

"That's right," Ice says.

"Okay guys...if you're sure everything will be fine," I reply.

"Just go ok?" Mood Swing says with a laugh. "You are the most over-protective brother and team lead I've ever seen. You make Robin look easy going." At this everyone laughs.

"Very funny guys," I respond sarcastically. "Alright...alright. I'm leaving."

As I pack my things, with the help of all my teammates who seem eager for me to leave, I look toward the future, and wonder what the urgency is back in Jump City with Raven. I'm really concerned that something might be really wrong, especially since I'm not even going to Jump City, but I have to meet the Titans at a rendezvous point in the strangest place for a rendezvous point ever. I wonder what's so secret that I would have to meet them there instead of at Titans Tower?


	7. Chapter 7: Twins

**Chapter 7: Twins**

"Why would they want me to rendezvous with them here?" I ask myself out loud. The 'here' I'm talking about happens to be in the middle of the frozen wasteland also known as Siberia. I open up my communicator and check the coordinates again. "Well, this is the right place." I frown to myself, "But where are they?"

As soon as I say this, the Titan's T-Ship flies in and lands right in front of me.

"Psy! Friend, I have missed you much!" shouts Starfire as she jumps out of the ship, runs to me and grips me in a huge hug.

"Good to see you too Starfire," I say trying with all my strength to hug her back with just as much vigor.

"Dude, wassup?" Beast Boy exclaims.

"Hey BB, not much. How 'bout you?"

"Eh, the usual. You know, saving the world and junk."

"Hey Psy, how've you been?" Cyborg asks in a somewhat flat tone.

"Hey Cyborg, I've been good. How're you doin buddy?"

"Not too bad except for this whole 'prophecy' thing. Gives me the creeps"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. This has me kinda freaked out too. Especially since I don't know anything other than I'm being sent to help protect Raven or something like that. Where exactly are we going anyway?"

"It's actually a long way away from here." Robin says, finally making his appearance.

"Then why did you bring us here?" Beast Boy and I ask in unison.

"We needed someplace inconspicuous. Someplace where no one would follow us," Robin says in return.

"Robin," Raven says making her presence known. "We can't keep secrets forever. He needs to know the truth."

"There's no time. We need to get you two to the safe area," Robin relpies. "Titans, let's go."

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

As the rest of them climb aboard the T-Ship, I stop Raven and pull her aside.

"Raven, what is going on? Someone has to explain this to me, but I'm not getting any answers."

"Psy, I'll tell you everything as soon as I can. But Robin's right, now's not the time. We need to go."

"Raven wait…," I start. Raven stops, and slowly turns around. "I know this has to do with you and your brother. But can you at least tell me one thing?"

"I'll do my best."

"Am I involved in this in some way?"

"…More than you know," Raven says quietly as she turns and starts walking away, leaving me standing there with a confused expression on my face. "Oh, and you'll need this." She tosses me one of her cloaks, only it's a little bit longer to fit me.

"Why…?"

"Don't ask. Just put it on. Everything will be made clear as soon as we get to the safe zone."

She flies up into the T-Ship while I throw on the cloak she gave me. I follow soon after, and we take off toward the 'safe zone.'

"This is it? This is the safe zone, a monastery?" I ask in complete shock.

"I have to agree with Psy on this one," Beast Boy says. "How is this supposed to be safe?"

"I'm sure it's safe," Raven replies. "We need to trust Robin on this one. He wouldn't have picked this as a safe zone unless it in fact is a safe zone."

"Thanks Raven," Robin says gratefully. "The monks here know exactly what's going on, and they will do whatever they can to protect the two of you. You will be safe here."

"Yeah, besides," Cyborg says. "Now you two will have someplace completely quiet for you to meditate."

"Yes, and there is much companionship to be had with the monks," Starfire says. "They are kind and friendly, and you will get to know them well."

Raven and I look at each other in silence, and then move towards the monastery.

"Thanks for watching out for us guys," I say. "And I promise to take good care of Raven. I won't let anything bad happen. I promise."

"I'm not the only one who needs to be taken care of," Raven says quietly to herself as she continues to move toward the monastery. "I suppose we'll see you guys later, bye everyone."

We all say our good-byes as the rest of the Titans climb into the T-Ship and zoom off. Raven and I move to the monastery and knock on the huge doors. We are greeted by large man in a brown robe.

"Hello your majesties," says the monk in a slightly German accent. "We've been expecting you two for some time now. I'm Brother Paul. Please come in."

_Majesties?_ I repeat to myself in confusion. _I think he has me confused for something I'm not. Maybe he thinks I'm Raven's brother or somehing._

The three of us walk in silence for a while. Brother Paul leads us as we walk down the silent halls of the monastery.

"Would you two like to see your rooms first? Or would you like to talk with Father John first about why you're here, and what you are to do while you stay with us?" Brother Paul asks.

I look at Raven before answering, "I suppose we should talk to Father John first. I'm still confused about the whole thing, and I would like to get some answers."

"Alright then," Brother Paul says. "Follow me. This way children."

Brother Paul leads us through many hallways and corridors as he takes us to see Father John, the leader of this sect of monks. The halls are lined with many ancient pieces of artwork and sculptures. Raven looks completely at home in a dark, spooky place like this. But Psy, despite his new darker side, looks quite shaken by this whole ordeal.

"Here we are," Brother Paul says suddenly breaking the silence. "Through these doors you will find Father John. He will answer all your questions and will explain everything to you. Farewell children."

We stare in silence as Brother Paul makes his way back down the hallway we just came from. Raven and I look at each other once again, and then move toward the door.

But right as Raven reaches for the door, "Raven wait," I say.

She turns to face me. "What's wrong?"

"Something feels wrong. Something just doesn't feel right about this. Tell me you don't feel it too."

"I'll admit, that this is…different, but I don't think there's anything wrong."

"Well…if you say so."

I open the door and Raven and I go inside. Once inside we take a quick look at our surroundings. It's a normal, casual office filled with books, comfy chairs, and a huge desk. We move toward the desk.

"Father John?" Raven asks.

"You might not know who we are, but…" I start.

"Father John has left the building kiddies, and believe me…I know exactly who both of you are," says a familiar voice as the chair behind the desk turns around to reveal not Father John, but…

"Blackfire?" Raven and I exclaim in shock.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"And what have you done with Father John?" Raven also asks.

"I'm here on a mission, a mission to make the prophecy come true," Blackfire says. "I've been promised a huge fortune by the all-powerful one if I get the prophecy to come true. You two will fulfill the prophecy…like it or not."

"What do you mean 'us two' will fulfill the prophecy?" I ask confused. "First brother Paul calls us both majesties. And now you say that the two of us will fulfill the prophecy? What is going on?"

"They haven't told you?" Blackfire asks me as she smirks at Raven.

"Haven't told me what? Raven, what's she talking about?" I ask.

"Psy…you're not here to protect me. You're here to…" Raven begins.

"You're here to bring Trigon back to life!" Blackfire finishes.

"So I'm?" I ask.

"Her twin brother," Blackfire says while pointing at Raven, "the Prince of Azarath, and Trigon's son. And I'm here to make sure the prophecy is fulfilled. It's the end of your world, and this time…I'm going to make sure there's no way to stop it. There's no way I'm going to make the same mistake Trigon's first flunky, Slade, made. But, right now I'm not here to make the prophecy come true. I'm here to send the message of what is to come. See ya 'round kiddies."

Blackfire blows a kiss, smashes a nearby window with a starbolt, and flies out it into the distance. I look at Raven to see if this is all true, but it was written all over her face. I look into her eyes, but she looks at the ground. It's true, I'm no longer Sam average teen, and I'm not Psy teen hero either. I'm Psy, son of Trigon the Terrible, Prince of Azarath, twin brother of Raven, and there is a prophecy. I'm going to bring Trigon back to life. My sister Raven will become the portal for Trigon's return. And this will bring the end of the world…again.


	8. Chapter 8: Castaways

**Chapter 8: Castaways**

The battle rages on between Raven, Blackfire, and me. It's been weeks since Raven and I arrived at the Saint Francis Monastery…weeks since our first encounter with Blackfire in the office….weeks since I came to the realization of exactly who I am and what I'm meant to do. Blackfire has returned at least once a week to battle us, wear us down so that we won't be able to resist when the time comes. A purple Mark of Scathe burns on Blackfire's forehead, showing her loyalty to the incarnation of all evil…Trigon. The glowing red markings that cover Raven's body have returned to show a sign of the times. Blue markings, identical to the ones on Raven, have become apparent on my body as well.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

Blackfire flies through the air at super-speeds with Raven and I on her tail. She all of a sudden turns around and hurls many purple starbolts at us. We dodge to the best of our ability.

"You can't dodge forever," Blackfire says with a laugh.

"She's right Psy," Raven says in exhaustion. "She's wearing us down."

"No," I say fiercely. "We can't give up! We won't! I won't let this happen."

"You might as well accept your destiny boy. It's inevitable," Blackfire says menacingly.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!" I let out an angry scream while flying at Blackfire as fast as I can. My fists charged with dark psychic energy. "Why don't you shut your face?"

I catch her off guard and my fist makes contact with the side of her face. She's knocked unconscious and violently falls to the earth below, hitting it with such an impact that she leaves an impression in the cold hard ground.

Raven and I float back down to the ground, and Raven collapses in exhaustion.

"We don't have time to rest," I say as I grab her hand, pull her up, and force her to run.

"Where can we run to Psy? We've already been kicked out of the monastery because of all the destruction caused."

"We'll go anywhere…anywhere but here."

"She's going to find us no matter what. There's no stopping this Psy. It's the end of the world, we have to do this, and it's our destiny."

"You know what Raven? I'm sick of this! Just because you've accepted the fact that this is the end, doesn't mean I have to! We may be twins but we're complete opposites in the fact that I'm optimistic; I'm always looking for the good in things, always trying to find the silver lining. But you, you're always pessimistic. Nothing is ever good enough, everything is always going to go horribly wrong, and you don't even try to stop it!"

"That's a lie! You weren't here the last time the world was coming to an end! You weren't around when I did everything possible to stop it!"

"But you didn't stop it! Because eventually you just gave in, gave up, and quit!"

"Awwww look," comes Blackfire's voice in a mocking tone. We spin around in anger to face Blackfire. "The two twins aren't fighting are they? I think what you two need is a time-out!"

We stare each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. I quickly speak to Raven telepathically.

"_Raven, I've got a plan_."

"_Well I'm listening_."

"_You fly straight up, and I'll fly straight at her. She won't be expecting it_."

"_Alright, let's do it!_"

Raven crouches down preparing to soar into the sky, while I crouch down to attack, though I still look like I'm ready to fly as well. Blackfire simultaneously gets ready for an aerial assault, and also prepares to fly.

"_GO!_" Raven and I shout to each other telepathically.

Raven shoots into the sky, and while Blackfire's attention is on Raven, I zoom full speed at Blackfire. As I reach her, I grab her around the waist and fly with her towards the wall of an abandoned building. As I reach the wall, I pull Blackfire up in front of me as a sort of human shield, and collide with the wall with all my strength.

Raven floats back down to earth and stands staring into the dust and rubble.

"Psy?" Raven asks warily.

"Uuunnngggghhhhh," Blackfire moans as she walks out of the dust.

Raven quickly prepares for the next attack, but a quick black flash comes from behind Blackfire, and knocks her completely unconscious. I stand behind her arm still extended, and eyes still glowing from this last attack.

"Psy, wha…" Raven starts.

"There's no time, we have to go."

"But where are we going to go?"

"Anywhere, and please don't argue with me this time. We just need to go, and go now."

Raven nods, and the two of us fly off into the distance leaving Blackfire's motionless form lying on the ground behind us. We fly for hours, searching for a place to hide…searching for somewhere to stay.

It's been six weeks since our fight with Blackfire, but not six weeks since we've come in contact with her. Everywhere we go, she finds us, and we've been to many places looking for refuge. But no matter where we go, no one wants us around.

We've stayed at an orphanage, pretending to be normal teenagers. But after a few days, my powers unleashed themselves while I was sleeping, and sent many things flying around the room, including some of the other orphans. The next day, Raven's anger got out of control and she made a huge hole in the ceiling. We were quickly asked to leave.

We stayed with a foster family for about a week. This was probably one of the best places we stayed. They treated us well, and we got home cooked meals. But Blackfire found out we were there, and while Raven and I were out, she attacked the family that was housing us. When the family found out that the two of us were the ones Blackfire was after, we were promptly kicked out.

A major train wreck a few weeks ago was because of us. It made it to the national news and everything. Raven and I were staying in a box car for a few days, and the train we were on was heading for Berlin, Germany. Blackfire found us with her new, Trigon-given, powers to track us down, and blew up the train in her attempts to find us. The German government is still confused at how exactly the train exploded.

We actually spent two weeks in a palace in India. Once we got to India, our powers were revered and we were treated like gods. We were put in the royal palace with the king and queen and treated very well. We taught meditation to a few students wondering how we got our magnificent powers. But once the king and queen found out from an "unknown source" that we were the spawns of Trigon the Terrible, we were kicked out and called demons.

Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, very disheveled and dirty in appearance, walk the streets of London. The rain is pouring down on them hard, and they both look cold. The boy has his arm around the girl, in attempts to keep her warm. The two spot a bridge, and curl up in a corner under it. After a few minutes of silence, the girl begins to cry.

"What's wrong?" The boy asks.

"How much longer do we have to live like this? How much longer do we have to keep running?" The girl replies.

"Raven, it's either this…or the end," the boy says back.

"But Psy, this isn't right! It would just be easier to accept this and get it over with! It would be easier to just be done with it," Raven says between sobs.

"Maybe you're right," I say in dejection.

"Finally, so you two are finally ready to cooperate?" says an all too familiar voice.

"Blackfire," Raven and I say simultaneously.

"So, are you two kids ready to finally come with me?"

I look at Raven standing beside me, cold, hungry, dejected. I can't let her live like this. But at the same time I can't let her become the portal. I have a bad feeling that there's something different about this time. Something that can't be undone, something deeper. I look up at Blackfire, with anger burning in my eyes.

"We're not coming with you, not now, not ever!" I yell. I grab Raven's hand, and focus hard on Blackfire. "Raven, are you ready?"

All of a sudden, Raven's head snaps up. There's a fire burning within her. "I've never been more ready Psy."

"AZARATH…"

"And what do you kids think you're doing?"

"METRION…"

"No! You can't!"

"ZINTHOS!"

All of a sudden, a giant black raven, and a giant black tiger burst out of Raven and me. They soar up into the sky, and combine with each other into a dragon of black energy. The dragon flies at Blackfire, who let's out a blood-curdling scream. She tries to fly away, but a flash of lightning from the storm blinds her momentarily and she falls to the ground. Blackfire then turns and tries attacking the dragon instead of running from it. She fires off starbolts mixed with fire at the dragon. But instead of making contact, the fiery starbolts are just soaked into the dragon.

The dragon, which is the combined souls of Raven and me, attacks Blackfire. It picks her up, and flies into the air, flying with her into the clouds, Blackfire screaming the whole way, the dark energy of the dragon burning Blackfire's skin. The dragon releases Blackfire, and she quickly plummets to the ground. Unable to remember the joy of flight, Blackfire continues to drop at an increasing speed. The dragon flies and attacks her multiple times while she falls. She smashes into the ground and lies there, unmoving. The dragon lands on the ground in front of Blackfire, and separates back into the tiger and the raven, which are then pulled back into our bodies.

Raven runs over to check Blackfire.

"She's still breathing," Raven says. "But I think she's in a state of comatose."

"Good, let's get out of here."

Only minutes after Raven and I leave, a burning mark of Scathe appears under Blackfire. It opens up, and pulls her underground.

"You were supposed to weaken their spirits. You were supposed to prepare them for my coming. You were supposed to bring them to me," says the menacing voice of Trigon. "You have failed to do any of this. All you've done is made their spirits stronger, made them more ready to fight my coming, and led them to continue to run from me!"

"No, master, I tried!" Blackfire screams in self-defense.

"SILENCE!" Trigon bellows. "Need I remind you of what is to come if you fail me again?"

All of a sudden, fire engulfs Blackfire.

"If you deny me my son and daughter once more I will not only strip from you the power I gave you, but I will also strip away the very thing that makes you who you are."

Blackfire's screams continue to emit from the flames.

"NO! YOU CAN'T! PLEASE DON'T! AHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yes I can. Fail again and you shall no longer be Tamaranean. You shall become the race you despise the most."

The flames die out, and there stands Blackfire, only now she has become what she most fears. She has become…human.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Now, bring me the gems or your current state will be PERMANENT!"

"Psy, where are we going?"

"To see some old friends, one of them I'm sure you'll be happy to see."

"Do I know these friends?"

"I sure hope so," I say with a chuckle.

Raven and I are riding a train, and this time it's not in a box car. It's actually in a passenger car. I took out all the money I had, and bought two train tickets to a land called Markovia, the home of Prince Bryon and Princess Terra Markov, also known as former Titans, Geo-Force and Terra.

The train arrives in a small town on the border of Russia and Markovia. Markovia is a country that has sheltered itself from the influences of the outside world, so there are no trains that go into this small, middle-aged country. I was in Markovia once before due to my kidnapping. That was over a year ago now. I was kidnapped from my home and my family in America by Count Bedlam, who at the time, was trying to take over the country of Markovia by using me to control his legion of werewolves. I wasn't doing it on my own free will, I was being blackmailed into doing this unspeakable act by Bedlam's lackey, Sage, a woman who was mastered in kung fu, ninjitsu, and karate as well as black magic. In the end, I teamed up with Terra, Bryon, Emerald and Wolfgang to take out Bedlam and Sage, thus bringing Markovia back under the rightful rule of the prince and princess. But the last time I was with them, I didn't know that I myself was a prince. So I knew this would be an interesting reunion. Besides, the time I spent with Bryon and Terra, I heard all about Bryon's love for a certain "angel of darkness", which turned out to be Raven all along.

"Prince Bryon, Princess Terra," a castle guard started. "A young man and a young woman have requested your presence. They are not from this country, but claim to have traveled many hundreds of miles to see you two."

Terra and Bryon look at each other, and then Bryon looks to the guard.

"Did these two happen to say who they are?"

"All they said was to announce that the prince and princess of Azarath have come to meet with the prince and princess of the great land of Markovia."

At the word 'Azarath', both of the Markovs looked at each other in shock.

"Azarath," Terra says in shock. "Isn't that where…"

"Where Raven is from," Bryon answers her question before she has time to finish. "But I didn't know there were a prince and princess from there."

The two ponder this for a minute, and consult each other until they make a decision.

"Allow their royal highnesses to enter," Bryon says formally.

Raven and I have had enough time to clean ourselves up a bit before entering. Raven is still a little unsure of where we are, but I feel that she's slowly figuring it out. The giant doors to the chamber where the prince and princess await open, and we move inside. As we enter, we make it about halfway into the giant room and…

"Raven!" Bryon shouts.

"Bryon!" Raven yells back.

The two run to each other and embrace. Tears stream down Raven's face.

"Oh Bryon, I thought I'd never see you again."

Bryon puts a finger under Raven's chin and lifts her head so that he can look into her eyes. He lovingly kisses her on the lips.

"My angel of darkness, I shall never leave you. Not ever."

I smile when I see the two of them together. But another shout brings me away from the touching scene.

"Psy! Oh my God! Psy, it's you!" Terra shouts.

Terra comes running over to me, looking funny trying to run in a large flowing gown. She hugs me tight, and I return the hug.

"It's good to see you Terra."

"So, you remember me? You remember everything now?" she asks as we pull out of the hug.

"And how do you expect me to forget you?" I laugh. "You're like my best friend. Duh!" We both laugh.

"Come!" Bryon says. "We must celebrate the coming of our friends Psy and Raven. A feast must be had."

The four of us congregate in the dining room, and so much food is brought out that there's no way anyone could eat it all. We laugh, and eat, and catch up on old times, laugh some more, and then talk more.

Hours later, Raven and I meet with each other. We have to talk about how we're going to tell Bryon and Terra about what's going on.

"But how are we going to tell them?" Raven asks.

"I don't know, but we need to tell them. That's inevitable."

"Well no kidding, but how do we go about doing it? It's not like we can just walk up to them and say, "Hey, we're the son and daughter of Trigon, an interdimentional demon, and there's been a prophecy that we're gonna bring the end of the world by bringing him here."

"Well obviously."

"So…what do we do? How are we going to tell them?"

"I…I just don't know. We need more time to think it over. In the mean time we'll just have to pretend nothing's wrong."

"I guess. But I don't like lying to Bryon. He'll know, he'll find out. Psy, Bryon and I have a connection…a soul bind. Over two and a half years ago I cast a spell that made my soul and Bryon's into one. He'll know."

"Well we're gonna tell them, but not now. Let's wait 'til tomorrow, at dinner. Sound good?"

"I guess."

What Raven and I didn't know was that Terra had been listening at the door the whole time. She heard every word, and quickly went to tell her brother.

The next morning at breakfast, Raven and I wake up, and head to the royal dining hall. But on our way there we're seized by many of the castle guards. They bring us to the thrown room of the castle where we are brought in front of Prince Bryon and Princess Terra.

"Bryon, Terra, tell them to release us!" I yell to our friends.

"Bryon, help me!" Raven shouts to her love.

"I'm afraid we cannot help you," Bryon says with tears in his eyes. "It isn't that we hate you, it's that you two pose a threat to our country. We know who you are, and what you're destined to do. And I'm afraid that you can't stay here."

"But Bryon, my love," Raven starts.

"Dearest Raven, my angel of darkness, I love you with all my heart. But you cannot stay here. You and your brother endanger my sister and my country."

"Terra?" I ask, looking for her opinion in the situation.

"I'm sorry Psy. You are and always will be my best friend, but it's too dangerous. Please understand."

"No, I can't understand. You're supposed to be our friends. You're supposed to help us no matter what. But everywhere we go we're treated like trash. It's not our fault we're the children of Trigon! We didn't choose to be like this! The Titans didn't want us around, so they sent us to Saint Francis's. The monks at Saint Francis's didn't want us, so we went to that horrid orphanage," I scream as tears stream down my face. I look over to Raven and she has crumpled to the floor, on her knees crying. "Look at me, look at my sister! Aren't we the same two people? Aren't we the same friends? How can you put us out like this? How can you do this to us?"

"I'm sorry Psy," Bryon says, also crying. "But with the curse that the two of you have, no matter where you go, you'll always be treated like castaways."

"Castaways…yeah," I say bitterly as the tears flow from my eyes. "Come on Raven, we need to go. We're not wanted here either."

I pull Raven up off the floor, her sobs loud enough to be heard throughout the enormous throne room.

"Goodbye my love," Raven whispers.

I wrap my arm around Raven's shoulders, and the two of us walk out of the castle, into a rainy day at Markovia. The doors shut behind us, and the guards lead us out of the country.

Castaways…that's what Bryon called us. And it's true, we continue to run, not knowing what lies ahead of us, not knowing how much longer we have to run before the inevitable destiny catches up to us. But still we run, still we hide, still we fight. We won't give up, we can't. But I still fear that the end is near…it's so near I can feel it breathing down my neck. But I won't give up, not without a good, clean fight.


	9. Chapter 9: Beginning of the End

**Chapter 9: Beginning of the End**

"Psy wont stop running my lord, he wont stop fighting, even though Raven is tired of trying to fight back and is ready to face her destiny. Are you sure there's no way we could get her first?" Blackfire asks the fiery eyes on the stone wall in front of her.

"NO! I took away your powers and everything about you as a warning Blackfire! A warning so that you wont defy me again. So do not question me when I say that my son must come first. He is the way my body will be reborn. I cannot come to reclaim Earth unless I have a body. Psy MUST be captured by any means necessary. He cannot run forever."

"What should I do master? I've been chasing them for months. I can't do this on my own."

"You are never alone my servant. Take with you the shadow twins. They are finally finished and ready for use."

"The shadow twins? They're finally ready?"

"Step forward."

Out of the shadows step two teenagers, a boy and a girl. Both are about 18 in age with brown hair. Both are also dressed in plain school uniforms. The boy is wearing blue slacks, a white button-up shirt, and black tie. The girl wears a short blue skirt, a white button-up shirt, and a black tie as well.

"Shadow twins Sam and Raven reporting for duty," the two twins say in unison. Slowly their faces are revealed from the shadows. There stand exact replicas of Psy and Raven, only in a perfectly normal human state with a non-pallid skin tone.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"Psy to Raven, over…," I say to Raven over my communicator.

"Psy, this is Raven. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes. If you go stay with Mood Swing and Sector S, and I go back to college and Sector N, we'll be far enough apart that they can't get us both at the same time, but yet close enough so that we can meet up with each other any time we need to."

"I guess you're right. I'm just worried…"

"Why are you worried? There's nothing to really worry about."

"…ok Psy. Still, we should be careful."

"Of course we will. Have you reached your destination yet?"

"I just got here. You?"

"I'm heading up to my dorm room, and then I'm gonna contact Eclipse, Solarflare, and Gale and fill them in on exactly what's going on."

"Alright. Well I guess we should get going. We have a lot of work to do to be ready if we're actually gonna fight this thing."

"Ok, well, talk to you later Rae."

"See ya Psy."

I stand there for a while in silence just thinking about the past few weeks. A knock on the door brings me back from my thoughts.

"It's open." As the door opens I turn to find Eclipse standing there.

"Hey Zach, what's up?"

"Sam, why don't you come with me. We need to chat."

"Is everything ok?"

"Fine…," Eclipse says in a monotone. He opens the door and holds it for me. As I walk past I look into his eyes and see an emptiness that looked so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. We walk out of my room and down the hall, Eclipse following me, not leading. I turn to ask him where we're going, and he grabs me by the arms. All of a sudden the blue, Trigonic markings all over my body flare to life after being dormant for over a week. Things flash around me. I open my eyes and stare Eclipse in the eyes. A black mark of Scathe burns on his forehead. I reach my hands up and put them on either side of his head and use my powers to knock him out. He crumples to the ground in front of me.

As I look around I notice that I'm in a vast city, with thousands of people around me walking and bustling with every day life. None of them even seem to notice me though. I stand there, my jeans torn, shirt slashed, with blue markings glowing all over my body. I look down to find Eclipse's lifeless form, only to see that it's not there. All of a sudden I notice that all the people are gone as well and I'm standing in the middle of the city, completely alone. I look far down the sidewalk though and see a girl about my age walking towards me. She wears a school uniform of a blue skirt, a white button-up shirt with a black tie. She has brown hair, and looks strangely familiar. As she walks past me I realize who she is.

"Ra…Raven?"

"Oh, Sam! Is that really you? Where have you been? You've been missing for months!"

"I…ummm…Raven, you look…normal."

"Isn't it great? Once you disappeared I made a deal with our father Trigon."

"Our father doesn't make deals, with anyone. Not even us. And even if he makes a deal, he doesn't keep his end of it."

"I was just as surprised as you! I made a deal with him that if I helped him, if I let him take the Earth, that he would let me be normal. And look at me! I'm normal. No more powers, no more having to meditate, no more keeping my emotions in check. I can feel just like a normal teenage girl should be able to feel. And Trigon didn't want to destroy Earth this time in his rule, this is all he wanted. Just look around. Everything is flourishing."

"It…it just doesn't make sense…"

"Don't you see Psy? When Trigon said he wanted to take over the world, he just wanted to make it a better place. All that running we did, all that fighting, it was selfish. We were preventing Trigon from saving this world from damnation."

"But Trigon is an interdimentional demon! He's the essence of all evil! He IS evil!"

"That's what we were always told. Trigon is a leader. He has had to do some harsh things in the past, but that was always to traitors to his rule. The monks of Azarath stopped him from doing to their world what he has done to this one. After Arella, our mother, became pregnant with us, the monks of Azar destroyed Trigon. And when they found out that we were to bring him back to rule this world, they separated us, kept us from fulfilling our true, glorious destiny."

"Can this possibly be true? Everything points to Trigon being completely evil, all the evidence shows him being the incarnation of evil bent on taking over the universe and destroying it. But yet here you stand Raven, perfectly normal and unharmed. Not a care in the world. Wait a minute…if I'm the elixir to bring Trigon back to life, how did he manage to rule this world?"

"Good question my brother. Trigon was able to inhabit a host body once I became the portal. Blackfire was one hundred percent willing to host her master Trigon. The thing is, Trigon still inhabits Blackfire's body, and he still needs you to become the elixir so he can re-inhabit his own body. He has promised that he will do the same to you as he has to me. You'll be normal again. No powers to worry about, you can feel your emotions the way you did before you became dark. Your spirit will be made clean again so that your powers won't be dark. They will be powers of light once again."

I stand in complete shock, taking all this in. Is this truly Raven standing before me, completely unharmed? Have I really been gone for months while Trigon turned the world into a utopia of pure bliss, where everyone's happy, and everything goes right?

"_Come with me Psy, and everything will be alright_," Raven's voice says in my mind as she stretches out her hand. I stare blankly at her outstretched hand, and slowly raise mine to take hers.

"Raven…"

Raven lies motionless in a vast blackness. Nothing around, no one anywhere, just empty blackness surrounding. Her jeans are torn and ragged, her clothes that were to help protect her identity are in shreds, and the red markings that cover her body glow brilliantly in this eerie dark place.

"Raven…get up,"

A soft moan escapes Raven's lips. Her fingers twitch slightly. She slowly opens her eyes, trying to find the voice that awakened her.

Possibly hours later, Raven continues to walk through the vast darkness that surrounds her. Not calling for anyone, she gave that up a while ago. No, now she just wanders aimlessly, her feet going without a goal, following them to the end of nothing. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a brilliant white light shines in the darkness, a light that's almost blinding. Raven slowly looks up at the light, and moves towards it. As she gets to the light, she realizes it's a door. Cautiously, Raven looks around, and moves through the door. On the other side is the most beautiful field you have ever seen. Green grass covers the softly rolling hills, and wild flowers are scattered in patches everywhere.

As she looks about her, she notices a boy, about her age, kneeling on the ground about twenty yards away. He holds in his hands a small bundle of flowers, and he is crying bitterly. As she moves closer she sees a tombstone in front of the boy. She tries to read the name on the stone, but her presence is suddenly realized and the boy turns around in a start. He looks at her, and she looks back at him. Their eyes meet and they just stare, almost staring into each other's very souls.

"Raven…?" the boy whispers.

"S…Sam?" Raven whispers in response. Tears well in her eyes and she begins to sob. She falls to the ground on her knees. "You…you look so…so normal. Back to the way you used to be. You look…like a normal person."

"Raven…I…I thought I'd lost you," Sam says as he starts to sob as well. He takes Raven in his arms and the twins cry together for what seems like eternity. "I thought I'd lost everyone. After Trigon gave me back my humanity, that's when it really started to hurt. Everyone I loved…was gone. You had disappeared back when we had split up to go be with our friends. You never made it to your destination. You were just…gone."

"I…I remember being gone. I was in…a dark place…a place with no light, no hope, no anything."

"But now I have you, you're back; my pain won't be so hard knowing you're here to bear it with me."

"Sam…I can't. I can't feel like you do now. I'm still the same as I've always been. I still have to keep my emotions under control, they're still dangerous."

"But you can't allow me to bear this pain alone," Sam says between sobs. "It…it's too hard to take alone."

"Sam, you're strong. You're going to have to take this by yourself. I'll be here for you, but I can't feel with you."

"Look Raven! Look at what happened!" Sam moves aside to show the tombstone he was crying in front of.

MOOD SWING

TREMENDOUS POWERS

A PERFECT BROTHER

All of a sudden Raven looks around, and realizes she's not in a field, she never was. It was an illusion. She looks at her surroundings and sees that she kneels in the middle of a graveyard. Normally, Raven would be perfectly at home in a dark place like this, but the tombstones that encompass her slowly come into view.

ICE

POWERS OVER ICE AND SNOW

COULD NOT HIDE HER WARM HEART

WILDCAT

STRENGTH AND SPEED EMBODIED

A TRUE BORN HERO

ROBIN

A NATURAL LEADER

A TRUE TITAN TO THE END

GALE

MISTRESS OF AIR

BEAUTY BEYOND NATURE

"No…" The tears begin to flow from Raven's already swollen eyes. But it's not over; as she continues to look on in horror and shock, more graves begin to reveal themselves.

CYBORG

AN UNBREAKABLE SPIRIT

TRUE TO HIS FRIENDS ALWAYS

SPECTRA

GHOSTLY POWERS

A KIND SPIRIT

ECLIPSE

THE DARKNESS COULD NOT HIDE

THE LIGHT SHINING WITHIN

STARFIRE

ALWAYS JOYFUL

ALWAYS LOVING

"This…this can't possibly be true! This is just a vision! NO!"

BEAST BOY

KEEPING OUR LAUGHS ALIVE

EVEN IN THE DARKEST TIMES

TERRA

A TEEN TITAN

A TRUE FRIEND

SOLARFLARE

A LIGHT THAT ALWAYS BURNED

SHE KEPT OUR HOPES ALIVE

These tombstones broke her heart. Unleashed pain and bitterness like never before. But it was this last stone that made her world come crashing in on itself.

BRYON

NEVER ALONE

EVEN IN DEATH

Raven screams in pain, wails in heartache. "NO! NO! NOOOO!"

"Raven. Take my hand, and it'll all be over," Sam says to Raven as he extends his hand to lift her from the ground. "You can be normal again, let Trigon help you."

Raven looks up into the eyes of her beloved brother. The only one left in her life, and reaches to take his hand.

Simultaneously, though in alternate dimensions, Raven and Psy reach to grab the hand, seemingly of each other. As their hands touch the outstretched hands in front of them, everything goes dark…


	10. Chapter 10: Armageddon Part 1

**Chapter 10: Armageddon Part 1**

"Unnnngh…what happened?" I moan to myself. "Ohhhh my head." I reach to put my hand on my forehead but realize that I can't lift my hand. I try the other one and can't lift that one either. My eyes shoot open, and I try to sit up, but once again something is restricting my movement and I get the wind knocked out of me. So I lean my head forward as much as possible and quickly take in my surroundings.

It appears to be some sort of cavern, but it's extremely dimly lit. I realize that I lay on a stone table, chained at the wrists, the stomach, and the ankles. My shirt of my uniform has been torn off, and my tights are slashed and ripped. A strange bluish glow is all around me, but I can't see the source. I lay my head back down, and look to my right, and there, on an identical stone table, lies Raven. She lies about 20 feet from my table. Her uniform is torn and shredded, and she is also chained down. A red glow surrounds her, and it comes from a pool circling the stone table filled with a glowing, red liquid. I can only imagine that the blue glow around me comes from a similar pool filled with a blue liquid.

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

"You're awake…," Raven says to me.

"Yeah, my head is killing me."

"They did this to us," Raven says, nodding slightly to two figures in front of us. I look into the shadows, and the two figures step forward, with evil smirks on their faces. There stand exact replicas of Raven and myself, in school uniforms, and looking completely normal.

"Yes, WE did this to you," shadow Sam says.

"Don't you mean you did this to you?" shadow Raven says sarcastically with a chuckle.

"Who, who are you?" I ask frantically.

"We are the shadow twins," shadow Sam replies.

"We were created to bring you to fulfill your glorious destinies," shadow Raven finishes.

"If you're us, then why doesn't Trigon just use the two of you?" Raven asks with anger in her voice.

"Now, now, don't let your temper out. We wouldn't want you to make a fool of yourself," shadow Sam says mockingly.

"Oh she doesn't have to lose her temper to do that brother," shadow Raven says as she laughs.

"Leave my sister alone! _Azarath Metrion Zinthos!_ Ahhhhhhhh!" I scream in pain as my powers are reversed on myself and send splitting pain throughout my body. The shadow twins roar with laughter at my pain.

"Nice try Psy, but those chains soak up energy from the pool around you and cancel out your powers. The liquid in the pool reacts with the markings on your body, causing your powers to cause you harm instead of anything else," says the voice of Blackfire as she makes her entrance into the chamber. "Shadow twins you have served your master well."

"Thank you mistress Blackfire," the shadow twins say in unison.

"But I'm afraid we won't need the two of you any longer. Your mission has been accomplished. _Heshbareth Azazel Lethos!_"

"NOOOOOO!" The twins scream as their eyes glow red and they begin to dissolve before our eyes. Their screams fill the cavern. Screams filled with pain and torment. And in one final flash of purple light, they're gone. Raven and I just lay there horrified. She destroyed her two most loyal followers with just three words, probably at Trigon's command.

"Now, to get down to business," Blackfire says with a malicious smile.

"His daughter was born to be his portal." At this Raven's stone table tips itself upright, and swivels to face mine.

"His son shall be his rebirth." Then my table does the same. Raven and I now face each other. I look at Raven, and she looks down. She begins to cry openly.

"He shall reclaim…" Raven begins to glow with a black aura.

"He shall renew…" A black aura surrounds me as well.

"STOP!" shouts an all too familiar voice. Raven and I look up in shock. Standing in the doorway are Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.

"It'll be the last thing you'll ever do Blackfire!" another voice calls out. We turn to see Mood Swing, Spectra, Ice and Wildcat on a ledge above us.

"And tell your master Trigon that if he wants Psy and Raven he has to go through us!" We turn again and on the other side of the room stand Eclipse, Solarflare and Gale.

"We've got you surrounded, let Psy and Raven go!" We turn our heads once more to find Terra and Geo-Force standing on the other end of the cave.

I look at Blackfire with a fire burning in my eyes. "It's thirteen against one Blackfire. Any last words before they kick your butt?"

Blackfire smiles back evilly, says in a menacing whisper, "His kingdom on this earth."

The ground starts to shake, and splits between Raven and me.

"Aaargh!" Starfire screams as she soars and rams into her sister Blackfire full force. They crash into the cave wall and begin to fight.

"Ahhhhhh!" Raven and I scream as things start to happen for us to fulfill our destinies.

Flames start to spit up from the giant crack in the ground, and hundreds of flame warriors soar up, ready for battle.

"Terra," Robin shouts, "can you close up that crevice?"

"I'll do what I can. Aarrrrrghh!" Her eyes glow yellow and she closes the crack, and then concentrates on keeping it closed.

"Titans, GO!"

The battle goes on strong and fierce. Everyone battling these monsters from the abyss, as Raven and I continue to transform. Robin throws multiple birdarangs at Raven's chains, and as she begins to fall he uses his grappling hook to rescue her from the red pool underneath her. Simultaneously Mood Swing fires off plasma blasts at my chains, and Eclipse creates a black hole under me and another next to him so that as I fall through the first, I come out the second.

"You're too late," Trigon's booming voice silences everything going on in the enormous cave. Four fiery eyes appear on the cave wall. "Their destinies are being fulfilled as you watch!"

I let out a scream that continues as I begin to dissolve, much like the shadow twins dissolved. I begin to dissolve from my fingers and toes, and it slowly and painfully works its way up my body. Mood Swing rushes over to my side. As I dissolve, the pieces glow white and float to the eyes on the wall. I am becoming the elixir to bring Trigon to life.

"Sam! I…I know we always fought and stuff, but I really do love you. You're my brother," Mood Swing says as tears begin to flow from his eyes.

"Joel, I know I was mean in the past, and I know we didn't always get along, but I always cared about you. You mean so much to me," I say with pain in my voice.

Mood Swing hugs me, and we cry together as I continue to dissipate.

"I swear. I swear on my life. I will avenge you Sam. You will not be forgotten. I will find a way to bring you back.""

"I will always live on in your heart. We're brothers. We share a bond. Take this," I pull a necklace over my head and hand it to my brother. Engraved on the small round stone is a psychic eye symbol. "As long as that eye glows, you know I'm still alive. It glows brighter the closer you are to me. If it goes out, you know that I'm gone. Keep it with you, that way a part of me is always with you."

We give one more embrace, and I dissolve into nothing as Mood Swing falls to his knees and cries bitterly while clutching the necklace close to his heart.

Raven then begins to glow from within as an orb of light forms in her abdomen. "Bryon! SAVE ME!" All of a sudden Geo-Force begins to glow in a white light, and he takes Raven's hands in his. The glowing orb begins to decrease in size.

"I love you Raven."  
"I love you too Bryon," Raven says with tears filling her eyes.

"I…I'm afraid I can't keep this from happening for much longer."

"I know, but I can keep you safe."

"How?"

"Our spirit bond, it will keep you safe no matter what. But you can't do this alone. You can't fight him without help. But I can't save all of them Bryon. I…I don't know which ones. I love them all, they're all my friends," Raven begins to cry again.

Bryon looks around and starts to say names of the people he wants to help him. "Robin, he will lead if anything should happen to me." Raven nods, and Robin begins to glow with a red aura.

"Mood Swing, he has lost his brother through this, if anyone should help, it's him." Mood Swing glows with a color changing aura.

"Terra, my sister knows me better than anyone other than you. She will fight by my side until the bitter end." Terra glows yellow.

"Starfire, her passion, and the betrayal her sister has made to this planet will make her a strong ally." Starfire glows a brilliant orange.

"I'm afraid that's all I can save my love. Look around you, this is your team until you can stop Trigon and save the world."

The four heroes chosen by Geo-Force gather around.

"I have given you the power to fight my father, and have made you a hope to the world. You are the Titans of the Armageddon. Only you can save this world. Only you can find the way to completely destroy the essence of all evil."

The glowing orb once again begins to slowly engulf Raven as she once again becomes the portal for Trigon to enter the world.

"Goodbye…friends…" And with a final brilliant flash of light, Raven is gone.

The ground begins to shake as the portal is opened. The spinning disc of flame and light lowers itself to the ground, and a figure begins to form as it rises to exit the portal.

"Come on, we have to leave, there isn't much time," Robin says.

"What about the others? We can't just leave them here!" Terra shouts over the roar.

"We'll be fine," Beast Boy says to Terra. "We'll to our best to keep him from coming through for as long as we can so you can get away and create a plan of attack."

"Besides, if y'all defeat him we'll all be fine," Cyborg says solemnly.

"We shall defeat him," Starfire says with confidence. "There will be no if about it. We have done it once before, we can and will do it again."

"Well aren't we the brave ones, off to face the incarnation of all evil, actually believing you're going to win," Blackfire mocks.

"You will have nothing to say sister! You have betrayed every last one of us. Trigon is not out only to destroy this world, but every world in existence…including Tamaran!"

"You think I actually care about Tamaran? You're even more deluded than I thought sister. If you remember, I was willing to sell Tamaran, AND you to the Gordanians. I do not care for Tamaran, and I do not care for you!"

"Whatever Trigon has promised you, I wish that you will receive not only that, but the due punishment you deserve. You shall always be my sister, but I shall NEVER forget the shame you have brought on our family name."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Starfire, we have to go!" Geo-Force shouts.

"Take care sister, dear. We shall meet again," Blackfire calls to her sister as she heads towards the exit.

"You can count on that sister, you can count on that."

Blackfire soars out the cavern exit, and the five Titans also move towards it. The rest of the heroes that weren't chosen as Earth's protectors, stay behind to do their best to keep Trigon at bay for as long as they can. But they all know that their fate has been damned to being petrified in stone as the Earth dies until the chosen ones have succeeded in destroying Trigon and setting them all free.

It's been a few hours since Trigon finally made it through the portal and the five chosen Titans made it out of the cavern, leaving their friends behind. The Earth was quickly engulfed in flames and what was once living has turned to stone. The only things left alive are the chosen five, Blackfire, wherever she may have gone to, and Trigon himself.

Deep underground, the Titans have set up a temporary base of operations where they can decide what exactly they need to do to defeat Trigon.

"Ok team, we need a game plan," Robin says."I say we hit him with everything we've got!" Terra starts.

"We will attack him with a fierce might and take back what the Trigon has taken from us…our friends," Starfire adds.

"But what bout Psy?" Mood Swing interjects.

"And Raven!" Geo-Force comments.

"Well, the last time we faced Trigon, I went in search of Raven, and Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg stayed behind and kept Trigon busy. I doubt he'll fall for the same trick twice. He knows that if we find Raven and Psy that there's a chance he'll lose. He can't afford that."

"So what needs to be done this time?" Starfire asks.

"We need to do the best we can to hit him with what we've got _first_. Then when we have him where we want him, then we can send someone in search of Raven and Psy. But first things first…we have to face Trigon."

The group all silently nods in agreement, and prepares for the battle against Trigon the Terrible.

"Trigon! You know that we are opponents that you can't look down on despite our size. We have fought you before and sent you back where you belong. Stand up and fight us!" Robin yells at the silent form of Trigon.

"Yes," Trigon says without opening his eyes. "I do know that you are powerful humans, and I also realize that there are five of you this time, three of which I have not encountered before. I will not underestimate you, but I will also not fight you. For I know what you plan to do later. You plan to go find my son and daughter. The truth of the matter is, you will only find one of them, and it won't be the one most of you are hoping for. Your savior, this time, is non-existent. There is no hope for your kind, so I shall let you survive…for now."

"I don't think so," Geo-Force yells. "We said fight us, and we mean fight us. We're not going to let you ignore us. If you won't fight us, we'll use everything we have against you while you sit there."

"Titans, GO!" Robin cries.

Geo-Force and Starfire shoot up into the sky and start firing lava blasts and starbolts at Trigon's face, while on the ground Terra pulls giant boulders and chunks of rocks out of the ground and hurls them at him with all her might at his upper body. The stripes on Mood Swing's uniform glow a brilliant crimson color, and plasma energy forms around his hands as he shoots a beam of red plasma energy at the demon's torso. Robin leaps into action and throws multiple exploding discs at Trigon's knees. At the impact of all these attacks, Trigon is sent reeling backwards, tips over a boulder, and falls into the lava that fills the once blue oceans. He shakes off the blow and stands up.

"Impressive, but not quite impressive enough I'm afraid." He opens his mouth and sends out a psionic pulse that should normally destroy whatever it touches, but out of nowhere, a black shield forms around each of the Titans.

"Raven?" Geo-Force cries out.

"No, not Raven…us! She's done it again," Robin replies. "Raven, in her last moment, gave us her power. She gave us a way to fight Trigon once again. Titans, together!"

The Titans all glow in the color they took when they were being chosen, as they take each other's hands and prepare to do battle against Trigon. They take each other's hands in their own and focus. Their feet rise off the ground as they chant the familiar words of Raven.

"_Azarath Metrion Zinthos_!" they all shout.

A brilliant rainbow colored blast shoots out toward Trigon and hits him square in the chest, knocking him not only to the ground, but for the first time…unconscious! As the Titan's feet touch the ground, Robin looks to Geo-Force and Mood Swing.

"Go! Now, while he's still unconscious! We can handle him, the two of you go look for Psy and Raven, that necklace Psy gave you will lead you to them in theory."

"But we cant just…," Bryon starts.

"Bryon Anthony Markov!" Terra shouts, cutting her brother off mid-sentence. "You do what Robin says and go find the twins….NOW!"

Bryon blushes a deep shade of red and turns to Mood Swing."

"You heard her. Ready to go?"

"I was ready from the moment Psy disappeared. I've only been waiting on you."

"Then let's go. The necklace?"

"It's still glowing, but it's dim. We're gonna have to travel around the world until the eye glows really bright to find them."

"Then where do we start?"

"Why do you not start where they were born, in Azarath?" Starfire asks.

"How do we even get there?" Bryon asks.

"Well, we could start by these powers that Raven gave us. See if they lead us anywhere." Mood Swing offers.

Bryon nods. "Let's go. Are you sure you guys can handle this?"

"Hey, we've beaten him before, we can do it again," Robin says confidently.

Terra walks over and hugs her brother. "Be careful Bryon, Markovia will never be able to live on without a king like you."

"My sister, Markovia will live on. For if I do not return, they will have a queen like none other."

Meanwhile, Starfire walks over to Mood Swing and takes his hands in her own. "Do not fear friend." She said to him, for the stripes on his uniform had turned green. "You shall find your brother and return to us safely. Family bonds, as Psy has shown me recently, are like no other. Even the bond between Raven and Geo-Force is not the same as the bond between siblings. Even if you lose the necklace that your brother gave you, the bond you have with him will lead you to him. Just listen you your heart."

Mood Swing looks up into the loving eyes of Starfire, and hugs her. "Thanks Star, I needed that."

The Titans say their final goodbyes, and Joel and Bryon head off in search of the twins of prophecy that will hopefully save the world they unwillingly helped bring and end to…once again.


	11. Chapter 11: Armageddon Part 2

**Chapter 11: Armageddon Part 2**

"Is the necklace glowing any brighter?"

Mood Swing looks down to check the necklace. "Nope. No brighter than the last time you asked me. Oh how long ago was that? Oh yeah…thirty seconds ago!"

Bryon blushes a deep scarlet. "I'm sorry. It's just, I really want to –"

Mood Swing puts his hand on Bryon's shoulder. "I know Geo. I wanna find them too. But we wont get anywhere by just standing here. I know we've been traveling for a few days, but we have to keep going. We're only in what used to be Kansas."

Bryon looks up and his eyes widen as he points ahead of him to a skyline on the horizon. "I hate to use a total cliché, but I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore…"

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cause when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!

Fade out of song

Mood Swing quickly looks in the direction of Bryon's gaze, and sees something that is completely out of place for the middle of Kansas. There, silhouetted against the red sun and seemingly rising up out of the desolate and destroyed earth, stands the Roman Coliseum!

"What is THAT doing here?" Mood Swing asks astounded, with his mouth still hanging open. "Besides, I thought Trigon destroyed everything on the planet!"

"Well, we're not going to get any answers standing here," Bryon says decidedly. "Let's go have a look."

As the two heroes come closer to the arena, they hear many cheers and cries coming from within. They give each other shocked and questioning glances, both asking the same thing in their minds. _How can there still be people alive?_

"Ahhhhhh!" Starfire is flung back and lands on top of the already grounded Robin and Terra. All three moan in pain and annoyance for their inability to defeat the two guards of Scathe much like the one Slade faced when he was trying to regain his humanity.

"How are we to defeat them? They are most persistent, and we know that the Trigon is only using them to weaken us so that we will not pose a threat in the battle that is to come."

"We don't give up, that's how," Robin starts. "We don't quit, we just have to –"

But Terra is already up on her feet with a rage burning in her eyes. "All my life evil people have forced my brother and me into situations that we don't wanna be in! My mother and father were killed because of evil beings. My brother hasn't loved anyone besides me since that happened. And as soon as he finds someone to love, someone that is _perfect_ for him…evil people take that person away!" She looks at Trigon now. "If you hurt my brother, you hurt me too! Go to Hades and I hope you burn for eternity! You will not destroy us!"

With this, Terra pulls a large boulder out of the ground and forms it into a giant spike. Still staring at Trigon, she suddenly spins around and hurls it at one of the Trigonic guards that had been advancing on the three Titans, catching it off guard and piercing it right through. In a flash of black light and smoke, the guard disappears. The other guard raises his flaming double-axe and charges the Titans. Terra's eyes glow yellow and another spike forms out of the ground skewering this guard from the bottom up. Another flash of black light and smoke and this guard also vanishes.

Robin and Starfire stand there, mouths agape and eyes wide.

"Erm…good job Terra," Robin says.

"Yes…very…spirited?" Starfire offers.

Terra turns to her two comrades, the rage in her eyes flickers once more and dies out. She blushes at her sudden outburst and after a moment she finally speaks. "So…do you guys wanna focus on the demon now?"

As Mood Swing and Bryon enter the coliseum through one of the upper levels, they notice that the cheering in the stands is coming from absolutely nothing. All the seats are completely empty. But they quickly notice that they aren't the only two in the large building. For down in the center arena, are two gladiators of old, fighting to the death. One is clad in brilliant white Roman armor with a sword and a shield with an eye on it. The second is covered in basically the same armor, only black. This warrior carries no weapons, but his fists glow with a strange purple energy.

The white gladiator rushes at the black warrior and strikes with his broad sword, catching the black warrior in the chest plate. The black gladiator's eyes glow purple underneath the helmet and beams of this purple light erupt from his eyes and send the white warrior flying backwards. The invisible crowd roars with approval, but the white gladiator quickly rises to his feet and is ready for more. The eye symbol on his shield glows, and a bluish purple aura forms around his body as his feet rise off the ground and his sword and shield disappear.

"Bryon, look!" Mood Swing cries. "It…it can't be!"

But Bryon isn't paying attention to the two warriors fighting, for he has already seemingly lost interest. His eyes search frantically around the coliseum for anyone else, but specifically for someone. But a scream from the black gladiator quickly brings his attention back to the battle scene in front of them.

The white gladiator has not moved an inch from where he first rose off the ground, but the black gladiator is hovering in the air, almost suspended by an unseen hand. He fires balls of his purple energy from his hands towards the white warrior in desperation. But all of a sudden the white warrior's eyes glow with the same bluish purple light that surrounds him and the black warrior is hurled back into the wall. His helmet flies off his head to reveal that _he_ is not a "he" after all. For once the helmet is gone it reveals the familiar face of Blackfire.

Neither Mood Swing nor Bryon shows any signs of surprise on their faces, for they have already figured out who the two warriors are. Blackfire gives a scream of rage, and flies out of the arena. The cheers erupt from the empty seats as the white gladiator removes his helmet also; unveiling the very person Mood Swing and Bryon suspected…Psy. The cheers in the vacant stands fade into silence, and Psy looks up into the eyes of his former teammates with an unrecognizing gaze. He then turns and walks toward the Northeast gate.

"Sam! Wait come back!" Mood Swing yells to his brother. But Psy has already disappeared into the black opening of the gate.

"He's gone Joel, he was never really there. Neither of them was. They were as real as the crowd that we heard but could not see. Psy did however point us in the direction we are to go…Northeast," Bryon says as he points to the eye shaped necklace around Mood Swing's neck which is now glowing brighter than it was before

"Most amusing, I did not expect you to defeat my guards so quickly," Trigon says. "No matter, for you are not keeping me from knowing your plan, for I have already told you that the one you seek will not be found. The two you have sent on the quest to find my children have already faced their first trial, and the one who's soul is bound to my daughter's has already seen what lies ahead of them but is not willing to accept it."

The Titans give each other worried and confused glances.

Trigon chuckles, "You pitiful insects do not even understand what I am talking about and wont until your fate has arrived. This time, there is no savior, there is no stopping me! I am all powerful, and I am ruler over this world!"

"We'll see about that," Robin says under his breath. He motions to the others to follow his lead. "Trigon, if you're all powerful, then why couldn't you defeat us last time?"

"Yes, if you are the all powerful ruler that you say you are, then how is it we are still here and you do not even fight us to prove your power?" Starfire taunts.

"Guys, isn't it obvious?" Terra says to her teammates who look at her confused. "He _won't_ fight us because he _can't_ fight us because he _isn't_ all powerful! It's just an act that he puts –,"

"Insolent fools!" Trigon yells. "You dare to mock the essence of all evil, the ruler of all darkness, your worst nightmare come to life? Then so be it. Your fates have been sealed."

Trigon extends his hand and picks up all three Titans. He then brings them close to his face so he can examine them closely.

Robin looks quickly to Starfire and Terra who have terrified looks on their faces. They look at him and are surprised to find a calm and almost victorious look on his face. Then, as if reading his mind, the two girls also grow calm.

"Terra, NOW!"

A column of rock shoots up from the ground and pushes the three out of Trigon's hand. Robin then throws exploding discs into Trigon's face while Starfire and Terra simultaneously hurl a mixture of starbolts and rocks into his face as well. Trigon reels backwards, screaming in pain and frustration, but the Titans haven't stopped yet. The three quickly join hands.

"But, I thought that Raven's power would only work if all five of us stood as one," Starfire says.

"No," Robin says while shaking his head. "Raven's power is _strongest_ when we all stand as one, but that doesn't mean it won't work when there are only three of us."

Starfire and Terra nod and then the three concentrate on the anger inside of them.

"Azarath Metrion _Zinthos_!"

"There has GOT to be a faster way to get around! My feet are killing me," Mood Swing complains.

"Well if you could fly it wouldn't be a pro…," Bryon trails off.

"Wouldn't be a problem, I know."

"No Joel. You should actually be able to fly."

"Ummm, I've had my powers for quite a while Geo, and I'm pretty sure flight isn't one of the things I'm able to do."

"Well it is for a while."

"Oh yeah? And how's that?"

"Raven's power! She gave each of us a bit of her power right?"

"Right…"

"Well, Raven can fly."

Mood Swing stands there for a second with an astounded look on his face, which is soon replaced by a look of concentration. "Now, if I could only remember the words that Raven and Psy are always saying."

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

"Oh yeah, that's right." He closes his eyes in focus. "Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos…" After standing there for a few seconds, he peeks through his right eye. As expected, nothing happened. "What'd I do wrong?"

"Ummm, try looking up at the sky and saying it again."

"Alright, that sounds reasonable." He takes a deep breath and once again recites the words while looking up into the orange, burnt sky. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." His feet slowly rise off the ground, and soon he's a comfortable five feet off the ground. "It worked!"

"Awesome! Now, where to next?"

"Well that's easy. I have absolutely NO idea."

Bryon hovers in the air next to Mood Swing for a few minutes, trying to think of what to do next while Mood Swing scratches inside his ear and looks at his finger afterwards. "You know, you COULD help me think of something."

"I am!"

Bryon rolls his eyes, and goes back to thinking. Suddenly, and idea hits him like a ton of bricks. "Joel, do you have a map of the world?"

"Hmmm, lemme ask my geography teacher!"

"Well you don't have to get sarcastic, it was a simple question!"

"Well then NO I do not have a map of the world!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The two teens float back to the ground and stand facing opposite directions.

"The only reason I asked for a map was because I had an idea that might actually work."

"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"

"Scrying."

"What?"

"Scrying. It's sort of like clairvoyance and being able to tell the future. Other things you can do with scrying include seeing people you want to see, and finding people no matter where they are."

"What? How?"

"Well I'll show you if I can find a map."

"Ugh fine!" Joel leans over the burnt, dusty ground and the stripes on his suit glow yellow as he begins to shrink in size. Soon he's about the size of a six inch tall action figure. His stripes then glow red and he begins to use his plasma blasts to draw a large rectangle in the dirt. He then moves around inside the rectangle and begins drawing the continents, labeling each one as he goes. His stripes fade back to yellow and he runs out of the rectangle and resumes his normal size and the yellow stripes fade back to white. "There, happy? Now what?"

"Let me see Psy's necklace."

"What? No way! Psy gave this to me to find him, there's no way I'm giving it up to you."

"Listen, magic got us all into this, and magic is the only way to get us out. I remember reading about scrying in one of Raven's books when I was bored, and we _need_ that necklace. It's the only thing that'll even work."

For a split second Mood Swing's stripes burn red in anger, but turn back to white almost as quickly as the turned red. He grudgingly takes off the eye-shaped necklace and hands it to Bryon. Bryon looks at Mood Swing for a second. "Joel, I know you miss your brother. But we have to…"

"No! You _don't_ know! Nobody does!" Tears well in his now blue eyes, and the stripes on his uniform become blue as well. A dark aura emanates from his body, much like one Psy or Raven would have. "No one understands that even though Psy and Raven are twins and that I'm only Psy's half brother or something, that I've lived with Psy my entire life! I've known him better than anyone. He's my _brother_ and he's gone Bryon! He's gone and we're not even sure we'll be able to bring him back! We're just going on what happened last time. But this isn't last time! It's _this_ time!"

Bryon just stands there embarrassed and quiet as Mood Swing sobs, still surrounded by the black aura. All of a sudden Bryon realizes that the necklace in his hand is burning hot. He looks at it and notices that it's really bright. "Joel! Look!"

Mood Swing looks quickly at the pendant and snatches it from Bryon's hand. And then, as if he suddenly knows where to go, he looks at the sky. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" And takes off, leaving Bryon standing dumbfounded for a few seconds before taking off after him.

Mood Swing flies at top speed, heading due East with Bryon following close behind. The two pass ruins of cities, and millions of "statues" of people that had been petrified. They cross an ocean of liquid hot magma that was once a crystal blue sea. From his calculations, Bryon figures them to be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, heading towards Great Britain.

"_I wonder why we're going there._" He asks himself.

Three teenagers lie on the ground, a young blonde girl, a guy with black spiky hair, and another girl with long red hair. The three teens lie unconscious, and as they start to wake up they realize that they aren't going to be able to take much more of a beating from the giant red monster standing over them. The blonde girl stands up and cradles her left arm which is bent at a wrong angle. She looks up at her teammates with angry and painful tears in her eyes.

"I think it's broken," Terra states.

Robin sighs. "If Raven were here maybe she could fix it."

"If Raven were here, this would not be happening," Starfire says.

Robin looks at Trigon, and sees that he's returned to his makeshift throne in the side of the cliff. "I think he's lost interest in us. You know, we probably shouldn't have fought Trigon in the first place. We know that he can see what we're gonna do before we do it. We probably should've gone with Geo-Force and Mood Swing to find Psy and Raven."

"I believe that we are free to pursue the twins. I do not think that the Trigon will follow us," Starfire comments.

"Oh no, I'm not finished with him yet! He's hurt me, and he's hurt my brother. And since he's evil incarnate, he's the reason for all my family's pain. He's the reason for _everything_ in my life going wrong!" Her voice becomes a frantic scream as she turns on Trigon, her eyes burning bright yellow and her hair whipping around her face.

Robin and Starfire exchange worried glances.

"Starfire…"

"Yes Robin?"

"Terra's powers…they're becoming unstable. We have to go."

Starfire grabs Robin's hand and flies him out away from the scene as Terra's rage builds.

"I _hate _you! And everything you stand for! You're going to pay for what you've done. Not only to me, but to _everyone_ you've ever hurt! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Terra's body glows yellow as her powers increase exponentially and a gigantic explosion follows.

"Robin, will Terra be…ok?"

Robin says nothing for a time, while examining Terra's seemingly lifeless form. "She will be, in time. She used a lot of her power against Trigon. I'm surprised that her body even survived an explosion like that."

"It is most hard to believe that her body can house such power and even harder to believe that she might unleash a force such as that and hardly harm the Trigon at all."

"I know Star. But even though Terra didn't destroy Trigon, she did weaken him considerably. It'll buy us more time to find the twins. The only problem is, now we can't go help Mood Swing and Geo."

"For now we must stay and take care of Terra, correct?"

"Yeah."

"But how do we know that we will be safe here?"

"We don't…we just have to hope that we are."

"Joel, I'm still not sure on why you've brought us to England of all places, but I'm guessing this is where we're supposed to go to find Psy and Raven?"

Mood Swing has calmed down considerably, but still has the look of determination set hard on his face. "Yes. I don't know exactly what we're going to find here, but what I do know is that we aren't going to find my brother and Raven here."

"Well then why did you bring us here?"

Mood Swing lets out a heavy sigh. "Because this is where we will find the second of the three clues as to where they are."

Bryon pauses momentarily. "How do you know there are three clues?"

"I'm not sure, I just…know. Just like I know that the second clue is here in England."

"Wait, if this is the second clue, then what was the first one?"

"The coliseum. The coliseum was our first clue because it leads us in the general direction we were to go. The second clue will be more specific, and the third clue. Well, the third clue will be a map."

Bryon stares at Mood Swing astonished. "Joel…he told you this…didn't he?"

Mood Swing looks at his feet solemnly. "Yeah. I don't know how, but he did. And he didn't really say it through words, more like…pictures. They weren't clear pictures, but I could see enough to tell what each clue meant."

"But how are we going to come across the second clue? How will we know it's the clue when we find it?"

Mood Swing pauses, "We'll know."

Bryon looks at Mood Swing questioningly and worriedly. "Joel, there's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Mood Swing looks up at Bryon and thinks to himself a long time before speaking. "We're going to be taken prisoner as the second clue."

"By who?"

"By me." A witch walks out of the shadows of a nearby rock. Her face entirely covered by a purple hooded cloak. "You are both under arrest for treason against my master and lord of this mortal realm."

With a flick of her wrist she conjures up two guards that appear at her side and walk over to restrain Mood Swing and Geo-Force. Bryon quickly crouches into attack position, but a motion from Mood Swing tells him that this is part of what needs to happen, and he relaxes and allows himself to be retained by the guards.

"Blackfire, no matter what you believe, Trigon will turn on you, just as you've turned on your people," Mood Swing says to the witch.

"We will see oh brother of the elixir. I have served my master very well. I will be rewarded," Blackfire the witch taunts. "Take them to the dungeons of Aziomoth."

At these words, a rift opens in the ground, and the orange light of the center of the earth escapes from it along with the heat and steam. The two guards push Bryon and Mood Swing forward as they are lead down into the abyss.

Mood Swing looks at Bryon whose head is down. "It won't be long now Geo. My brother will come to our aid once more before we can rescue them. That will be the third clue; he will leave us a map."

But Bryon keeps his head down, for he is finally coming to the realization of what is to come. He saw something that Mood Swing did not. He saw what lies at the end of the map, and it's not what he wants.


	12. Chapter 12: The Dream and The Cocoon

**Chapter 12: The Dream and The Cocoon**

Geo-Force opens his eyes to find that he stands alone in a sea of dark water that comes up to his ankles. There's nothing in sight for as far as he can see but water. But as he continues to look, he sees a figure, standing a few hundred feet away from him. The figure belongs to a girl, with her back facing him. She wears a long, flowing blue robe that is very elegant in style. But as he gets closer, he notices that the robe has many burns on it and many tears in it as well. It's when he's gotten about twenty feet away when she speaks.

"Bryon. Bryon, wake up," the raspy, dry voice calls to the young prince. "Bryon, please come save me. I can't last much longer Bryon help!" The voice becomes more and more frantic. "Bryon! Bryon you _have_ to save me! Don't you love me anymore!? Then why won't you come find me!? Why do you keep stalling!? _I love you Bryon!!! SAVE ME!!!!_" At this the figure turns around to reveal Raven. Her face is gaunt and sunken in, her cheek bones are visible through her extremely pallid skin and her eyes seem to bulge from the sockets. From under the robe, a bony gray hand reaches out to take his.

"Raven!!" Bryon's eyes flash open from his horrifying dream. But was it really _just_ a dream?

Fade into song

When there's trouble you know who to call

TEEN TITANS

From their tower they can see it all

TEEN TITANS

When there's evil on the attack

You can rest knowing they've got your back

'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol

TEEN TITANS...GO!!!

With they're super-powers they unite

TEEN TITANS

Never met a villain that they liked

TEEN TITANS

They got the bad guys on the run

They'll never stop 'til the job gets done

And when the world is losing all control

TEEN TITANS...GO!!!

1...2...3...4...GO TEEN TITANS!!!

Fade out of song

Bryon looks around, and for a moment is surprised to see where he is. But slowly he remembers how he ended up in what looks like a rendition of Hell itself and realizes that nothing has changed since before he fell asleep. He's still in the pits of Aziomoth tied to a stake with Mood Swing on his left in the same position.

He sighs and says to himself. "We're never going to get out of here. It all ends here I suppose."

Just as Bryon is about to give up all hope of ever finding Raven, his angel of darkness, a brilliant white light shines right in front of him. The light shines so bright that it wakes Mood Swing from his sleep with a jolt. The two boys stare into the light for a few minutes, before a rider on a white horse steps out of the rift. The rider is strangely not who they'd expected, but is a cowboy like out of an old Western movie. He wears a plain white button up shirt with a golden eye embroidered on the back. White leather gloves cover his hands, and a white hat rests on his head. He also wears a pair of normal riding jeans that cover a pair of glistening white boots with golden spurs. Aside from the clothes he's wearing, he wears a white bandana around his mouth so that you can't see who he is.

Without making a sound, he rides over to the two teens tied to their stakes and whips out a knife. A look of slight panic crosses both the boys' faces as he dismounts and walks slowly over to them with his knife drawn. However, he walks behind them and cuts the ropes that bind them, as well as picks the locks on the shackles around their ankles. He then walks up to Mood Swing and hands him a rolled up piece of paper. It's once he's handed this paper to Mood Swing that he speaks very quietly.

"Do not fear brother, for this is the final clue you have been searching for, though I am not truly your brother."

"Then, who are you?" Mood Swing asks cautiously.

"I am an apparition of your brother, a memory given life, and hope for you that you can make it."

Tears fill Mood Swing's eyes. "How do you know that I can make it? I don't even know I can make it."

"Look at me Joel. You wanna know how I know you can do it? I know you can do it because you're stronger than you give yourself credit for, because you're an amazing hero, and because you're my brother. _That's_ how I know you can do it."

Mood Swing cries openly as he reaches out to embrace his brother.

"No don't. Joel, I'm not really here. The second you touch me I vanish and I cannot help you anymore."

"But what else can you do for us? You said it yourself, you're not really here," Bryon says.

"I can keep the guards away for a short time. But you have to start moving; I can only keep them off for so long."

As soon as he stops talking, the sound of the guards discovering the boys' escape finds its way to their ears. The three look at the advancing guards with their flaming scythes and axes, and burning Scathe marks on their chests.

"Go…NOW!" Psy shouts as he uses a small psychic push on them in the direction they should go. "I'll hold them off as long as I can! Don't give up, you _will_ find him Joel. Have faith."

"What about–," Bryon begins but Psy cuts him off.

"GO! Before there's _nothing_ I can do!"

The two boys take one final look at Psy, dressed as a cowboy hero of the old West, as he turns to face the guards. They turn themselves, and run headlong away from the scene, angry tears filling Bryon's eyes as he thinks of what is to come. Behind them, a flash of blinding white light explodes, and the sound of many Trigonic guards screaming as they dissipate into black smoke that soon fills the air. But the two don't look back; they keep heading forward, just as the map directs them, deeper into the pits of Aziomoth, deeper into the very depths of Hades.

Robin awakes from his sleep with a start. His breathing remains heavy as he remembers what he was dreaming. It was horrible, like something out of the worst horror movie. He sits and tries to remember the dream, trying to decipher anything from it.

He can't remember every detail, but what he does remember is darkness. Nothing but complete and utter darkness, yet the darkness seemed to be closing in on him. It became more and more constricting, cutting off his breathing. Then, white cracks began appearing in the darkness.

_Why does that seem so familiar?_ He asks himself, interrupting his own thoughts. He then goes back to thinking about his dream.

The darkness shatters around him, and he looked at his new surroundings. Dead, everything around him was dead. He looked into the shadows of a nearby cave, and suddenly four gleaming red eyes stare back at him. Fearing it was Trigon, he had moved away, but a familiar voice had come from those four eyes.

"Robin, I didn't mean it. I didn't do this on purpose. It wasn't my choice. I didn't want to be like him, I didn't want to do the things he's done. But it happened anyway."

Sounds of sobbing emitted from the shadows.

"And as much as I don't wanna do it, I have to get rid of you now too."

"Why!?" Robin had asked with panic in his voice. "If you don't want to do all of this, then why are you doing it?"

"Because I have no choice, because he lives inside of me and I can't stop it."

"Everyone has a choice, it's not up to him; it's up to you Psy."

"No, not this time Robin. This time is different than all the others. Nothing can change this I'm afraid."

"I'm not going to believe that Psy! I'm not giving up!"

"_Look at me Robin!!_" Psy stepped out of the shadows. He was covered from head to toe in a pure white cloak covered in blood. Slowly he brought his hands up to remove the hood on his cloak only to reveal that his hands had changed, they now had something like a deep red fur covering them. He removed his hood and his face had also become red. Small, vampiric fangs protruded from his top lip, devilish horns from his head, and four red eyes glowed on his face.

Without realizing it, Robin recoiled slightly, and Psy looked away ashamed.

"Psy, what happened?"

"I'm his son Robin, whether I like it or not. And now that you've seen what I've become…I have to…to...," Psy choked up and begins to weep.

Robin stood with his feet seemingly rooted to the ground staring at the crying demon in front of him before moving towards his friend and placing his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Don't touch me! Robin…"

"Psy, no matter what happens, no matter what you do, I'll _always_ be your friend."

Fresh tears welled in Psy's eyes, and he hugged his friend tightly. "Robin, you know that I don't want to do this, right?"

Robin began to cry as well. "Yes Psy, I know."

"I love you Robin, you've been like family to me. All of the Titans have."

"I know that I don't show how I feel very much, but I've always loved you and everyone else too. You _are_ my family."

Psy then pulled out of the hug, and backed away. He looked down at his feet, and raised his hand towards Robin. "I promise I'll make this as fast as possible Robin. I'm…I'm so sorry…"

Psy's hand had begun to glow, and Robin took in a deep breath. There was a blinding flash, and Robin had woken up.

He shivers from the memory of this horrifying dream. As much as he hated to admit it, the fear of dying was a huge thing for him, and the mere thought that he had died in his dream because of his best friend becoming a demon sent shivers down his spine. _What could it mean?_ He asks himself as he tries to shake off the memory of this nightmare.

"Robin?" A voice calls from the other side of the cave that the three have taken refuge in.

Robin doesn't answer for a moment, still trying to escape the images from his dream. "Yeah Starfire?"

"Terra has not awoken yet. But she is beginning to make signs of returning soon."

Another pause, "Thanks Star."

"Robin, something is troubling you, for you do not seem yourself. Do you wish to do the talking about it?"

"It's nothing Star; I just had…a nightmare is all."

"I too had the bad dreams while I slept. Such horrifying things I have not seen in reality."

"What where your dreams about?"

"I do not wish to speak of them, for the memory haunts me still. But I will tell you that there was much destruction and pain all around, and a young demon who spoke to me with words of apology for the things he had done."

"Star, was…was Psy the demon?"

Now it's Starfire's turn to pause momentarily as an inquisitive look crosses her face. "Yes. Please Robin, how do you know this?"

"Because Star, I had exactly the same dream." Starfire sits down next to Robin before she speaks again.

"Robin, what can this mean?"

"I don't know Star, but I have a very bad feeling about this."

At this, a dazed Terra walks into the light of the fire that Robin and Starfire are sitting near and sits down too. The other two take a moment to gaze at her to make sure she's alright before staring back into the glowing fire. The silence continues for a few minutes before Terra speaks.

"I…I don't exactly know how to say this, but I have a feeling that things aren't gonna go exactly the way we want them to."

"Why do you say that?" Robin asks.

"Because of the dream I had…"

Mood Swing and Bryon continue at a semi-hurried pace deeper into the abyss following a map on a piece of parchment. They've overcome all the obstacles so far, including horrific monsters, a fire troll, and a legion of magma slugs. After what seems like days of this venture they've finally made it to a fork in the road. Mood Swing looks down at the map, it ends at the fork, what lies at either end is an uncharted mystery. Now the only thing left for him to rely on is the necklace of his psychic brother. He slowly pulls it out.

"What's the map say?" Bryon asks.

"It doesn't, that's the problem. Everything beyond this fork is unknown territory. I'm guessing either no one's ever been further than this point, or they didn't live once they got to the end."

Bryon swallows hard, "Well what do we do now!? Are you saying you've lead us to a place where we don't know what's going to happen!? I _have_ to save Raven!"

Suddenly Mood Swing's eyes burn red, and his stripes quickly fade to red as well.

"Listen, _Bryon_! I _know_ you want to save Raven ok?! I got it! But this whole trip has been a team effort and all you've been doing is complaining that you want to save Raven! In case you hadn't noticed I've lost someone close to me too, but you don't see me being all selfish and throwing tantrums every time something bad happens. So why don't you just shut it!?"

Bryon opens his mouth to speak, but then closes it again and lowers his gaze to the ground. Mood Swing looks at him carefully for a few seconds before bringing his attention back to the necklace in his hand. It's glowing brighter than it has on their whole journey. He points it first to the left fork, then to the right, but there's no difference in the brightness. He then tries again, only this time taking a few steps down each side. Still, nothing happens. He stands back at the center of the fork for a while when all of a sudden an idea hits him.

"Geo, I think I've got an idea for how to make this work. I need your help…will you?"

Bryon remains silent for a moment, "Of course, and Joel?"

"Hmm?"

"…I'm sorry…"

Mood Swing walks over and places a hand on Bryon's shoulder.

"It's fine. Here, give me a hand. Draw an arrow pointing down the left side of the fork, and I'll draw one down the right side ok?"

The boys quickly draw two lines ending in an arrow about five feet down each path with the ends opposite the points meeting in the center of the fork. Mood Swing stands at the junction of the two arrows and holds the necklace in his open palms and starts to chant.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Bryon walks up to Mood Swing's left side and puts his hand on the other's shoulder and begins to chant as well, both focusing on the memory of their loved one.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

The eye begins to glow so brightly that even though the boys' eyes are closed they have to squint. The necklace rises up out of Mood Swing's hands and hovers directly at the point where the two arrows meet. An even brighter flash of blue light erupts from the necklace and the arrow to the right glows blue, while the one to the left glows purple. Then, at the end of the blue arrow a psychic eye is drawn into the ground, simultaneously at the end of the purple arrow a raven is drawn. The necklace ceases to glow and floats back into Mood Swing's outstretched hand.

The boys look at each other wordlessly and begin down the two ends of the fork, Bryon down the purple path, and Mood Swing down the blue.

Joel continues down his path for what seems like hours. He hasn't encountered anything, and he's starting to become nervous when he realizes that his feet are wet. He looks down at his feet to find that he's ankle deep in water, he quickly looks back up and stares out into the darkness. His stripes glow red, and he fires a bright plasma shot out into the blackness only to find, much to his horror, that the water continues on to the horizon.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" He asks himself rhetorically. He walks out of the water and sits on the dark beach to think of what comes next. He finds a rock next to him and lobs it into the never ending sea in front of him to test the depth. It makes a large splash, showing that there is a considerable depth.

"Well this sucks. I can't fly, so how am I supposed to keep going." He remains silent for a moment before muttering, "My shields…"

Quickly he rises to his feet and the stripes on his uniform glow green. He then conjures up a green, bubble-like shield, and slowly makes his way into the water. The water continues to get deeper as it begins to slowly climb up the sides of his shield.

The water is way over his head now, but the bubble allows him to continue to breathe, so he continues walking, taking short breaths so as to not use up all his air before he reaches his destination…wherever that is.

_I wonder if I'm ever going to find Sam._ Joel begins to think. But then, as if an answer to his thoughts, a large structure looms in front of him.

He makes his way over to this thing as quickly as he can while underwater. When he finally reaches it, he instantly recognizes what this giant sculpture is. It resembles a stone tree about twenty feet tall, and protruding from one of the branches on the left side of the tree hangs a stone cocoon about five and a half feet from tip to tip. As he examines this cocoon closer he sees a slight crack in the side with a bright blue light escaping its depths.

Joel doesn't skip a beat; his stripes fade to a greenish yellow color so that he can keep up his shield, and grow at the same time. He begins to grow up toward the chrysalis until his shield slowly envelops it. He then reaches out and grasps it and pulls it gently off the stone tree, and then begins to walk back toward the shore that is now miles away, and he's starting to run out of air more quickly.

Joel continues making his way slowly and painstakingly back toward the shore of the black ocean. He keeps pressing on all the while he's losing more and more oxygen, and struggling more and more to breathe. And on top of all this, he has to carry a massive stone cocoon.

_It's a…good thing…that I know…this is Sam_, he grumbles to himself.

The cocoon begins to grow even heavier and the air thinner, and just when Joel thinks he might not make it, he breaks through the water and he is finally in the wide open cavern with plenty of air to spare. He lowers his shield and drags the cocoon the last few yards to the shore and collapses to catch his fleeting breath. He sits up quickly when the cocoon makes a slight cracking noise.

"Whoa! Maybe it's me, but I think he wants out of there." Joel's stripes blaze red once again and he fires a concentrated plasma blast out of his finger and starts at the bottom of the cocoon but quickly figures out that it's not working. He thinks a moment and the stripes glow a brilliant orange as a bright beam of light fires from his finger. Once again he starts at the bottom and once again it doesn't work.

"How am I supposed to crack this thing!? It's like I can't open without using some sort of dark magic or something…" He trails off as he thinks back about the journey here. He suddenly remembers what happens when his stripes glow blue. "They've only done that once, and that was on the way here. I remember just how dark I felt. Maybe that's the key. Now, I've just gotta get sad."

Joel concentrates and conjures up the saddest memory he can think of, and his stripes slowly fade to a deep blue. He then focuses on the small crack in the cocoon's shell.

"Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos."

Joel's hands suddenly glow black and he reaches down and pulls the shell apart. It doesn't come easy, and seems to put up a fight so he gives a loud groan and pulls as hard as he can and the chrysalis cracks wide open.

"Oh my God…"

"Terra, Starfire," Robin says. "This isn't going to be easy, and the dreams we've had don't bode well. But we _have_ to keep trying. We can't just give up and wait here like cowards. We _have_ to fight. We've beaten Trigon before, we can do it again. We're the Teen Titans, we're the last hope, and we _can_ and _will_ do this."

"We shall be victorious!" Starfire shouts in return. "We will _not_ be rufka if I have to say about anything. We shall fight with a righteous fury to avenge our friends, and we will stop at nothing until we have defeated the Trigon."

"That demon's toast, I'm gonna personally rub some dirt in his face…literally. He won't know what hit him when we're done. Besides, I'll bet he doesn't even expect us to give it another shot."

"I'll bet he isn't counting on us being there this time either."

The three Titans spin around and Starfire gasps and lets out a gleeful shriek. Robin's mouth slightly drops and Terra says under her breath, "Thank God." For standing in front of them are two most welcome figures.

"Psy! Mood Swing! You have returned! We did not think you would ever…" Her voice trails off with a slight gasp. "Psy…you are…"

"Older?" I laugh slightly. "Yeah, this is the way Joel found me. Who knew this is how things would turn out. I remember you told me that Raven got younger, but somehow I aged about five or six years."

"Speaking of Raven, where are Raven and Bryon?" Terra asks.

I look quickly to my brother, and he looks back at me and shrugs his shoulders. All of a sudden we hear a loud roar outside, no doubt Trigon.

"We don't have time to wait and find out. We need to bring this fight to Trigon _now_!" Robin says. "Psy, are you ready?"

I look at him with a half grin. "When am I not ready?"

"Alright," Robin looks around at the other teammates. "This is it, Titans GO!"

Bryon crosses a vast wasteland, a desert in the depths of Hell. He's been walking for hours, maybe days. Time has lost all meaning for him. Just as he's about to give up, something rises up out of the sand on the horizon. Even from his distance he can see that it's a giant tree with no leaves on it, completely dead and empty. As he comes closer he can make out that the tree is some sort of statue and is made of stone. Then he sees a form lying on the ground. Fearing the worst he runs full speed to help whoever it is. But when he gets to the figure he only finds part of the statue, a stone cocoon of sorts lying cracked wide open on the ground. A feeling of dread hits him deep in his stomach as he peeks into the depths of the chrysalis.

"Raven?" He whispers softly.

As he looks in he sees something glisten at the bottom. He reaches down and pulls up a flat, round amulet. He slowly turns it over and sees the familiar symbol of a raven on a red background.

Bryon throws his head back and screams at the top of his lungs, "RAVEN!!!!!!!"


End file.
